Edo Castle

A detailed Summary of Edo Castle

One of the biggest, nicest and best castles in Japan is the Edo Castle. However, when Edo was first constructed it really wasn't that nice at all. In 1457, this castle was constructed, but much different than it is today. Actually, all it really was, was a fort on top of a hill. The castle was also small, and surrounded by marshes. Ota Dokan was the man originally in charge of the construction of the Edo Castle. Ota Dokan was a local ruler, and leader of the Hojo family. The place that Dokan chose to build the castle was on a hill on which three sides were surrounded by marshes and swamps from the Sumida River surrounded the castle. The construction workers finished the fourth side by digging a moat. This was initially built to separate from the Yamanote district. The castle was not attackable.

Edo Castle is an extremely large castle. The castle covers over more than two kilometers. The size of the land is just overwhelming. Inside the moat, there are very beautiful gardens with unbelievable flowering trees, ponds and walkways. There are also a great number of rooms that are lived in. The most important daimyo, which are rulers and distant relatives of the shogun live in very elegant rooms. There is also a very large a

In 1603, there was a great battle that took place and was between many army groups. The battle took place at Sekigahara. Ieyasu defeated all of his rival daimyo's, and he was then named shogun. When he first became shogun, he wanted all of the other daimyo's to show that they ere loyal to him. To prove their loyalty, he had them do construction work on his castle. He assigned each of the daimyo a certain portion of the castle on which they were suppose to work. Ieyasu wanted everyone to know that he would personally check out how each daimyo did on their part, and who ever did better, he would then trust them more. Ieyasu was definitely the strongest, most powerful man in Japan. Everyone did their best to show off and impress the shogun. They thought that they would get rewarded for the hard work that they did.

Edo Castle was surrendered in a very peaceful and respectful way. There were no fights, just each side being represented and signing the treaty. The date of the signing was again, May 3,1868. Each side was represented by a few people. Representing Kangun was the Vanguard governor Kaieda Genpatirou, and Kinashi Seiitirou represented. To make the agreement for Bakufu was Kawakatu Bingo-no-kami, Hori Jounosuke, and Hiraoka Soushiti.

Before they had even arrived Ieyasu was not very happy with his reward. However, he did know that he could make this fortress pretty amazing. In 1590, his men and family moved with him into the new castle. The first thing that Ieyasu did was build wide moats, along with huge walls of stone. Upon arriving, Ieyasu thought that the castle very run-down. Also, Ieyasu was very unimpressed with the town of Edo. The town was located next to the castle, and only had two tiny rows of houses.

They then set the date of May 3, 1868 to take over the palace. There needed to be some negotiating, and there were three teams of negotiators. The dealings took place between three groups, Kangun, foreign forces, and Bakufu so that they could reach an agreement on the subject of the Imperial lines. There were three terms that were settled upon when a treaty was being formed. The first rule stated that Tokugawa Yoshinobu (the last Shougun) was exempted from capital punishment. The second said that there will be a continuance of Tokugawa's family, with the control of the Edo Castle by Owari-Han. Owari-Han was an assistant to the shogun of the Tokugawa family. The final term that was agreed upon was the expulsion of Tokugawa's retainer. The expulsion was out of the Edo Castle. The terms that were agreed to really weren't all that bad for the defeated Tokugawa's family.

In January of 1657, an enormous fire broke out. This fire swept through the entire Edo region. This fire was called the Great Meireki Fire. The fire was named after the Imperial Era name, "Meireki", which was being used at that time. Although most of the buildings were restored, the main tower was never rebuilt after it was burnt down in the fire If you go to the spot where the tower use to be today, you will see a lookout tower standing on a mound in place of the tower. There is a controversy over why the tower was rebuilt. Many reasons and theories have surfaced over the years. One reason was because of a dream that Ieyasu's grandson

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Approximate Word count = 2213
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Foreign