Edo Castle

Edo Castle (江戸城, Edo-jō) is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is therefore also known as Chiyoda Castle (千代田城, Chiyoda-jō).

Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate there, and it was the residence of the shōgun and the headquarters of the military government during the Edo period (1603–1867) in Japanese history. After the resignation of the shōgun 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 current landmarks of the surrounding area.

Text adapted from “Edo Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Edo Castle ranks #92 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #5 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded 1457, it is older than 48% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 434 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 40,294 times in the last 60 days, more than 99% of the atlas. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Tokyo, 6 km away. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗