This page completes my exploration of the East Garden of the Imperial Palace.

It picks from the first page at the Kitahanebashi-mon Gate and describes the return to the Ote-mon Gate via the Shiomi-zaka slope and past the Ninomaru Grove.

Here is the Kitahanebashi-mon Gate followed by a view of the moat from the bridge outside the gate.  This was a drawbridge during the Edo period but is now fixed to the ground.  The metal clasps used to draw the bridge up can still be seen attached to the roof of the gate.

Walking away from the Kitahanebashi-mon Gate you walk past the Shoryobu (the Archives and Mausolea Department Building) and encounter this water feature.

There are two routes down to the Ninomaru, the Bairin-zaka Slope and the Shiomi-zaka Slope, I chose the latter.  The first photograph is a view over the Ninomaru and out into the city.  The following photographs are of the Shiomi-zaka Slope, as can be seen it is steep and curving making it difficult to attack the Honmaru through the Shiomi-zaka Gate.

This photograph shows the path looking in the direction of the Ote-mon Gate, it exits through the right hand gap in the wall opposite the Hyakunin-bansho Guardhouse (that is the right one when facing the wall).

To the left of this long path there are a series of smaller winding paths that take you through a number of garden areas which also include a number of buildings.

While walking back to the Ote-mon Gate the path passes this amazing light fixture.

Exiting through the Ote-mon Gate and walking along the moat a number of buildings, such as that shown below, can be seen on the walls.

Modern Tokyo is always present, turning around and looking across a car park there are a number of tall buildings with the Tokyo Tower visible between two of them.

Walking back to the Otemachi Metro Station you pass other sections of the moat.

Go to the Yokohama page

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