The history of Edo Castle dates back to the Heian period, when the Edo clan built a small fort on this site. In 1457, the vassal of the Uesugi clan, Ota Dokan (1432–1486), constructed a full-scale castle here. Internal conflicts weakened the Uesugi clan, and in 1524, Ota Dokan’s grandson, Ota Yasutaka, surrendered the castle without resistance to the forces of Hojo Soun, the ambitious leader of the Hojo clan. While Odawara Castle remained the clan's main stronghold, Edo was considered a key strategic fortress.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose ancestral lands were located in what is now Shizuoka, controlled vast territories by the end of the 16th century. In 1590, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s victory over the Hojo clan, Ieyasu was ordered to exchange his five provinces for eight underdeveloped ones in the Kanto region. Though the land was fertile, it was economically backward at the time. Ieyasu chose Edo as his new base of power.
At that time, Edo was a small provincial town. With characteristic determination, Ieyasu began transforming not only the castle but the entire surrounding area. Using a revolutionary approach to urban planning, he quickly turned Edo into the political and social center of Japan. The castle, at the heart of the city, became the largest in the world during its time.
Following his victory at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and his appointment as shogun in 1603, Ieyasu declared Edo the new capital of Japan. This marked the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate and an era that would last over 250 years.
In the early 17th century, the castle underwent significant expansion. The Kitano-maru compound was added to the north, and Nishinomaru expanded westward. The central keep (tenshukaku) was constructed in 1607, likely with the help of castle expert daimyo Todo Takatora. After Tokugawa’s final victory over Toyotomi Hideyori in 1615, a massive reconstruction began, involving nearly all of Japan’s major daimyo. Around 300,000 workers were reportedly employed to enhance the castle's defenses, including raising walls to 20–30 meters, altering the Kanda River's course, and building a new central keep in 1622.
Under the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604–1651), the castle reached its final form. A 15-kilometer-long outer moat was dug, walls were reinforced, and numerous gates and towers were constructed. In 1638, the central keep was rebuilt as a five-story tower on a tall stone base, with copper roofing and black-painted walls.
The castle was divided into several enclosures, including designated areas for daimyo residences, in accordance with the sankin-kotai policy. These compounds were separated by thick stone walls and deep moats. In the main compound, hommaru, stood the hommaru-goten palace, consisting of three sections: the Ooku (shogun’s living quarters and women's quarters), Chuoku (used for daily affairs and meetings), and Omote (reception area and administrative offices). A smaller palace, ninomaru-goten, was located in the second compound, used when fires damaged the main palace. Both palaces were destroyed by fire in 1873 and never rebuilt.
In 1657, a massive fire in Edo destroyed much of the castle, including the central keep. In 1712, historian and politician Arai Hakuseki proposed rebuilding the keep, but the plan was abandoned. It was never reconstructed.
The Tokugawa clan ruled from Edo Castle for 15 generations until the Meiji Restoration. The castle was lost following their defeat in the Boshin War. Many structures were later damaged by earthquakes and U.S. air raids during World War II.
Today, part of the former castle grounds serves as the residence of the Emperor of Japan and is closed to the public. However, the Higashi Gyoen (East Garden) and hommaru remain open to visitors, where one can see the impressive stone base of the former central keep.
Visitors can still admire original ishigaki stone walls and reconstructed towers. The stones were placed without mortar, a technique that helped the walls survive the devastating Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.
At its height, Edo Castle had more than 20 towers. None have survived in original form. Three that withstood earlier conflicts were destroyed in the 1923 quake. They were initially rebuilt in concrete but later reconstructed using traditional materials and Meiji-era plans.
The most famous tower, Fujimi-yagura ("Mt. Fuji-view tower"), built in 1659 in the hommaru enclosure, served as a symbolic replacement for the lost central keep. On clear days, Mt. Fuji can be seen from this tower.
Nearby stands a preserved section of covered corridors that once connected towers atop the stone walls, allowing for protected movement and storage. This section is called Fujimitamon-yagura.
In the sannomaru compound, visitors can see the two-story corner tower Tatsumi-yagura (also known as Sakurada-yagura). In the Nishinomaru area stands Fushimi-yagura, a two-story tower with an adjacent one-story tamonyagura. It is believed to have been built using materials from the dismantled Fushimi Castle.
In addition to towers and walls, several original and reconstructed gates and bridges remain of interest. Three tower-style gates (yaguramon) are designated Important Cultural Properties: Soto Sakurada (1617), Tayasu (1636), and Shimizu (1658). Most gates feature the classic masugata barbican layout, comprising a tower gate, a simpler koraimon gate, and a killing ground between them.
The former main gate, Otemon, now serves as the entrance to the Imperial Palace and is accessed via the beautiful Seimon Ishibashi, a stone bridge rebuilt during the Meiji era.
In 2006, the Japan Castle Foundation (Nihon Jokaku Kyokai) included Edo Castle in its list of the "100 Fine Castles of Japan." The entire site has been designated a "Special Historic Site."
See also
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Wakayama Castle
Wakayama Castle was built in 1585, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered his uterine brother, Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hidenaga, to construct a castle on the site of the recently captured Ota Castle. The purpose of this construction was to secure control over the likewise newly conquered Province of Kii. Following an already established tradition, Hidenaga entrusted the project to his castle-building expert, Todo Takatora. Takatora carefully inspected the future castle site, personally drew up several designs, created a model of the planned castle, and took part in the work of laying out the grounds (nawabari). For the construction he brought in more than 10,000 workers and completed the large-scale project within a single year, which was considered extremely fast by the standards of the time.
Toyama Castle
Toyama Castle is located almost in the very center of the former province of Etchū and is surrounded by a wide plain with a large number of rivers. The very first castle on the banks of the Jinzu River was built in 1543 by Jimbo Nagamoto. The Jimbo clan were vassals of the Hatakeyama clan and governed the western part of Etchū Province. The eastern part of the province belonged to their rivals, the Shiina clan, who were also Hatakeyama vassals. Beginning in the 15th century, the influence of the ancient Hatakeyama clan gradually weakened, and as a result, the Jimbo and the Shiina fought constant wars for control of the province. Meanwhile, the forces of the Ikkō-ikki movement periodically intervened, helping first one side and then the other.
Takada Castle
During the Sengoku period, the lands where Takada Castle would later be built were part of Echigo Province and were controlled by the Uesugi clan.
Kishiwada Castle
The celebrated 14th-century military commander Kusunoki Masashige (1294–1336), who owned extensive lands south of what is now the city of Osaka, ordered one of his vassals, Kishiwada Osamu, to build a fortified residence. This order was carried out around 1336. These fortifications became the first structures on the site of what would later become Kishiwada Castle. From the beginning, the castle stood in a strategically important location—roughly halfway between the cities of Wakayama and Osaka, south of the key port of Sakai. Because of this position, it changed hands several times during periods of warfare.
Kaminoyama Castle
Kamino-yama Castle stood at the center of an important logistics hub, in the middle of the Yonezawa Plain, which served as the gateway to the western part of the Tohoku region. Roads connecting the Aizu, Fukushima, and Yamagata areas intersected here.
Imabari Castle
Tōdō Takatora (1556–1630) served at different times as a vassal of several famous clans—Azai, Oda, Toyotomi, and Tokugawa. He took part in the Battle of Anegawa (1570), the Battle of Shizugatake (1583), the invasions of Kyushu and Korea, the Sekigahara campaign (1600), and the Siege of Osaka (1614–1615).
Iwakuni Castle
Kikkawa Hiroie (1561–1625) was the grandson of the famous daimyo Mori Motonari and a vassal of the Mori clan. Under Mori Terumoto, he fought in both Korean campaigns and took part in the defense of Ulsan Castle. During the Battle of Sekigahara, Hiroie stood with his 3,000-man force on the side of the Western Coalition; however, even before the battle began, he sent Tokugawa Ieyasu a secret message stating that he did not intend to fight Tokugawa’s troops. As a result of his inaction, 15,000 soldiers under Mori Hidemoto were also unable to enter the battle, since Hiroie blocked their path.
Gujo Hachiman Castle
Gujo Hachiman Castle is located on 350-meter Mount Hachiman, near the confluence of the Yoshidagawa and Kodaragava rivers, and not far from the Nagaragawa River. During the Sengoku period, this area was of great strategic importance: it stood at a key crossroads of routes connecting Mino Province in the south with the Sea of Japan in the north, and Hida Province in the east with Echizen Province in the west.
