Cape Town Lens: Ancient walls – Edo Castle-Imperial Palace – Tokyo, Japan

A Cape Town Castle Military Museum tagged image from photographer – Geoff Whalan as published on Flickr.

Ancient walls – Edo Castle-Imperial Palace – Tokyo, Japan

Image by Geoff Whalan

JAPANESE IMPERIAL PALACE
The Tokyo Imperial Palace (皇居 Kōkyo), literally "Imperial Residence") is the primary residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains buildings including the main palace (宮殿 Kyūden), the private residences of the Imperial Family, an archive, museums and administrative offices.
It is built on the site of the old Edo Castle. The total area including the gardens is 3.41 square kilometres (1.32 sq mi).
EDO CASTLE
Edo Castle (江戸城 Edo-jō), also known as Chiyoda Castle (千代田城 Chiyoda-jō), is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. It is today part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace and is located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, then known as Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate here. It was the residence of the shogun and location of the shogunate, and also functioned as the military capital during the Edo period of Japanese history. After the resignation of the shogun and the Meiji Restoration, it became the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Some moats, walls and ramparts of the castle survive to this day. However, the grounds were more extensive during the Edo period, with Tokyo Station and the Marunouchi section of the city lying within the outermost moat. It also encompassed Kitanomaru Park, the Nippon Budokan Hall and other landmarks of the surrounding area.