The area around Kitanomaru Park, home to the National Archives of Japan near the Palaceside Building, was once part of Edo Castle. Because the castle was where the shogun, senior councilors, junior councilors and many other officials lived and worked, incidents ranging from theft to bloodshed were not rare. A distinctive exhibition focusing on crimes and disasters inside Edo Castle, "Edo Castle Case Files," is now on at the National Archives.
The best-known bloodshed is the Matsu no Oka incident of 1701 (Genroku 14), when Asano Naganori, lord of Ako in Harima, attacked Kira Yoshinaka, a high-ranking master of ceremonies, in the Pine Corridor of Edo Castle. In 1860 (Ansei 7), at the end of the shogunate, the assassination of Tairo Ii Naosuke outside Sakurada-mon became a turning point in history. The exhibition draws on National Archives holdings to present the course of such incidents, the responses that followed, the castle's damage in disasters and efforts toward recovery.
The show runs through Sunday, September 11. Admission is free.