Nijo Castle

The Nijo Castle located in Kyoto was finished in 1602 for Tokugawa Ieyasu. Though it was constructed for the general, he still controlled his affairs from the Fushimi Castle and the Nijo was but a stopping place for him. The Nijo then became a place for accommodating Tokugawa's shoguns. After Ieyasu'a victory from the Battle of Sekigahara, the Tokugawa shoguns wanted to have a visit from the emperor. After it was decided that the Emperor Gomizuno-o would come, the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu decided that a new place was needed to recieve the great emperor. A new honmaru compound was then built and the original one became the ninomaru compound. The palace in the original honmaru compound was fixed for Iemitsu, who would be receiving the shogun, and the Goyko Goten was built specially for the emperor.

The construction of all this was placed in the hands of six magistrates who were Kobori Enshu, Gomi Kin'emon Toyonao, Ono Sozaemon Sadanori, Sunami Shume Shigekatsu, Nakanobo Sakon Chobei, and Ichikawa Shigezaemon Mitsutomo. The most recognized one of these magistrates was Enshu because he had worked on the building of the Imperial Palace. He was not only known as a great magistrate, but also for his painting, poetic, and architectural techniques. All his skills made him the perfect person to oversee the construction of the Gyoko Goten. The actual building for these plans started in 1624 and allowed two years for completion before the emperor came.

When finished, the Gyoko Goten had a large sand yard in front of it. The entire building was made of Japanese cypress, a very valuable material to the Japanese. Inside the Gyoko Goten, there were eleven rooms with fusuma separating them. On the west side of the building, its three rooms were called the north, middle, and south jodan and were connected to the lower leveled gedan on the east side. The north jodan faced a garden and its fusuma was covered with murals. This room was more informal, unlike the south jodan and gedan which were places for offical matters, and ceremonial activities took place here. During these ceremonies, for example, drinking, the emperor would always sit on the north side of the room across from the shogun on the south side. The fusumas of the south jodan and gedan were covered with Kano Tanyu's paintings. Kano Tanyu was considered the greatest artist of the time period. The middle jodan of the Gyoko Goten had shelves for the emperor's personal things and was connected to the bedroom on the east side.