Leaving Palaceside Building for the stone walls of Edo Castle (the Imperial Palace), the Shimizu-mon series is done; next is Tayasu-mon. Like Shimizu-mon, you can pass through to Kitanomaru Park at all times, and it is likewise a nationally designated Important Cultural Property. From Shimizu-mon, climb Kariki-zaka introduced in this blog on September 11, 2015, circle the park to the right, pass the Yoshida Shigeru
statue, reach the Budokan, cut beside it and you arrive at Tayasu-mon; outside the gate is Yasukuni Shrine — a familiar cherry-blossom spot (photo right shot toward Tayasu-mon from the Yasukuni-dōri pedestrian bridge on April 2, 2015).
The sign beside the gate shares two traits with Shimizu-mon: the first half on Edo Castle in general is identical, and “Located in the north of Kitanomaru, a masugata gate consisting of a front korai-mon and, deeper to the right, a yagura-mon” is word for word the same. The structure is exactly the same, you see.
As always, please view photo 1 at top, photos 2–4 at lower right, with reference to the plan = left =.
The sign also dates the gate from inscriptions on the korai-mon hinge fittings —
the same method — but the year differs: Shimizu-mon is “thought to have been built in Manji 1 (1658),” while Tayasu-mon is “Kan’ei 13 (1636),” more than twenty years older. The sign closes with Tayasu-mon as “the only surviving structure dating to the completion of Edo Castle’s outer defenses, and of high value.”
Like Shimizu-mon, neither burned in fires such as the Meireki Great Fire (1657).
The yagura-mon upper part had been removed due to damage; restored in repairs in fiscal 1961–66 — the same as Shimizu-mon. The two gates are a pair, a set of two.
We must not forget the stone walls. Photo below is inside the yagura-mon on the left
(north) side. The “kirikomi-hagi” cut stone with no gaps is beautiful. After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, roof tiles shifted and plaster walls peeled; stone walls also shifted, so from December 2012 through March 2014 Tayasu-mon was repaired together with Shimizu-mon.
