The two major festivals of Yasukuni Shrine occur on April 21-23 and October 17-19. At these times, in the tradition of the past, Noh dances, Bugaku, (court dance and music), Kyogen farces, biwa music, folk music, sumo, kendo and other activities to please the spirits of the dead are offered. These are festive occasions as are all Japanese commemorative functions for the dead. At these times an imperial messenger presents imperial offerings at the shrine and reads the imperial message to the deities enshrined here. Commemorative services are also held each August 15, the day the Second World War ended for Japan. One other period of the year is particularly noted at this shrine, and that is the springtime blossoming of the many ornamental cherry trees on the grounds.
Returning to the large statue of Omura Masujiro and crossing Yasukuni-dori, one can walk down Yasukuni-dori to the street which runs along Chidorigafuchi (Plover Depths), a pond which existed before the castle was built and which was included within the moat structure of the castle grounds. It has its name from the supposed resemblance of this waterway to the wings of a plover in flight. Chidorigafuchi Water Park is lined with about ninety cherry trees, which in 1953 replaced the ones first planted here by Sir Ernest Satow (1843-1929), a British diplomat in the early Meiji period. (The original trees were uprooted in the course of the construction of the Shuto Expressway.)
The name "Water Park" refers not only to the moat but to the fact that one can rent rowboats for a pleasurable period on the waters of the park. Beyond the Fairmont Hotel and just before the Shuto Expressway in a small park on the right is the hexagonal pavilion with a light green roof which has served since 1959 as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a sacred spot that commemorates the 90,000 unknown dead of Japan's wars. Under the roof is a symbolic, large stone sarcophagus. Each August 15, the anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the emperor makes his obeisance at this shrine. The shrine remembers all those who died, civilian or military, regardless of their religion (in contrast Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine), without the opprobrium which is connected with the Yasukuni Shrine for many non-nationalists and for those of other nations.
Continuing along the western side of the Imperial Palace grounds, one passes the handsome British Embassy in the Bancho district. In this sector the hatamoto (the seven thousand guardsmen) drawn from the retainers of the shogunal domains, were stationed in an area which stretched to Ichigaya. Six regiments of these warrior guards lived here, each in its own district, and the districts are still divided into six bancho, or blocks. After 1868 many of the Meiji nobility had their mansions here, and the area is still an upper-class residential district. Opposite the British Embassy, for example, is the modern Bancho House by the American architect Robert Stern, which is a combination office and apartment building.
This tour ends at the police-guarded Hanzomon gate to the Imperial Palace. This place was once home to Hattori Hanzo, the leader of the shogun's spies, those black-clad ninja of tradition who were adept at infiltration, assassination, and acts of derring-do which still fill Japanese cinema and television. The Hanzomon gate has a more pacific reputation in modern times since this is one of the entrances to the Fukiage area of the Imperial Palace private grounds. It was in this area that the Showa Emperor, Hirohito, had his botanical laboratory and rice paddy fields. The emperor was actually carrying on a tradition from the eighteenth century, for here the eighth shogun, Yoshimune (1716-45), had an herb garden and a plantation for plant research.
Just before the gate, on the left, is a small park which runs along the palace moat, and in it is a statue grouping of three nude young male figures. The park is a favored place during lunch time for workers from adjacent office buildings.
The Hanzomon Subway Station lies two short streets to the west of the Hanzomon entrance to the palace, and it can be taken to other connecting lines as one leaves this area.
AS THE capital of Japan, Tokyo has its legislative chambers and its massive bureaucratic offices as major aspects of contemporary life. Few countries are as controlled by their bureaucracy as is Japan, and most of Japan's government offices are clustered about the National Diet Building. The area geographically falls into two districts: Nagatacho, whose center is the Diet Building and the offices of political parties; and Kasumigaseki, where the governmental offices and ministries and the first skyscraper of modern Tokyo, the thirty-six-story Kasumigaseki Building, are located. Kasumigaseki derives its name from the seki, or fourteenth century guarded barrier that once existed in this quarter. It was poetically named the Kasumi barrier, the "Barrier of the Mists," a name that is perhaps appropriate even today for a government quarter.
Behind the political center of Tokyo and of Japan, situated on one of those fingers of hills which stretch into shitamachi, is the Sanno Hie Shrine, a Shinto shrine of great antiquity which served to protect the shogun's capital and perhaps still protects governmental affairs today. It was the locus of one of the three great celebrations that enlivened old Edo, a festive few days which are still enjoyed by modern Tokyo residents every other year when the festival brings a colorful procession and excitement to the city.
Below the Hie Shrine, in the flat land spreading from the Diet Building to Akasaka Mitsuke, is an area where the politicians and reporters, and today the minions of the television studios, continue to find places for relaxation, gossip, and the making of political deals. Much of this activity has always taken place in expensive restaurants on side streets off Sotobori-dori, the main street running through Akasaka and once the outer moat of the castle grounds. Here too are the luxurious New Otani and Akasaka Prince hotels with their striking architecture.
Hanzomon Station on the subway line of the same name is where this tour begins, and it starts where the previous tour ended. From the subway station to the main Shinjuku-dori street which runs from the palace grounds to the west, the most striking element in this part of Tokyo is the nine-story 1984 Wacoal Kojimachi Building of architect Kisho Kurokawa. As buildings go, it is not as tall and overpowering as some of the recent skyscrapers in the city, but its architectural design is striking. It has been described by some as an oversized sewing machine (not inappropriate considering the lingerie manufacturer whose main office this is). From a distance the design on its east side gives the appearance of having a baleful eye near the top of the building— or so it is claimed Emperor Showa regarded it, for the building peers over the palace grounds. Synthetic marble and aluminum bands cover the facade of the structure, and the canopy over its entrance has been described as a giant flying saucer. The lobby of the building is interestingly decorated with mosaics from China, Korea, and Japan, and the reception area on the ninth floor is striking with its high domed ceiling. Exhibits are frequently on display, and the building has an art deco theater and a cafe-lounge.
Turning to the right on Uchibori-dori (Inner Moat Street), which runs along the palace moat, one comes to the National Theater (Kokuritsu Gekijo). This 1983 edifice provided the nation with its first state-owned theater, a center which offers productions of traditional Japanese performing arts. The theater sits on a rise, and its reinforced concrete structure is built in the azekura (log cabin) style of the Shosoin treasury of Nara, that 1,300-year-old wooden storehouse which the exterior of this building imitates. The theater has two auditoriums, the larger one to the left, seating 1,764, is primarily for Kabuki productions and for Gagaku (court music). The smaller auditorium, to the right, has 630 seats and is meant for Bunraku, Kyogen (farce), and other traditional forms of Japanese dance, music, and theater. The L-shaped lobby contains displays pertaining to Japanese theater, ranging from scrolls concerned with everything from ancient performing arts to costumes. These may be viewed between 10:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. Adjacent is the Engei Hall, a smaller more intimate theater seating three hundred, which offers Rakugo and other forms of traditional story telling or comedy.
Just beyond the National Theater is the 1974 Supreme Court of Japan (Saiko Saibansho), an austere white, granite building which was designed by Shinichi Okada, who had studied architecture at Yale University. Many people find the interior of the building to be
