Strolling down Kiinokuni-zaka along the Imperial Palace (Edo Castle) moat from Daikancho toward Takebashi, one sees odd figures on the stone wall… Thieves? Ninjas??
Just past Kitahanebashi-mon, at Hirakawa-bori. A longer photo at lower left shows four people
(circled) clinging to the wall, and one more in a boat at lower left.
They seem to be in the middle of maintenance. Seeds lodge in the joints, sprout, and they are busy pulling them out. I shot early this month; today I checked and it was clean (photo at lower right).
The palace grounds are 1,150,436.87 square meters, buildings 107,852.26 square meters in total floor area, and there are many walls inside and out, so upkeep
must be hard. Costly too, I thought, and looked up the budget —
The Imperial Household Agency site says its budget divides into imperial household expenses and agency expenses. Agency expenses for personnel and administration are 10.68997 billion yen in FY2014. Household expenses total 6.14984 billion yen, in three parts (Imperial Household Economy Act, art. 3).
First, inner-court expenses: daily costs of the Emperor and inner-court imperial family, a statutory fixed sum, 324 million yen in FY2014. Once paid they become private funds, not public money accounted by the agency (arts. 4 and 7 of the act and enforcement law).
Second, imperial-family expenses, to maintain the dignity of the imperial houses, paid yearly to the Hitachi and other miyake. The statutory total for FY2014 is 262.81 million yen. These too are not public money accounted by the agency (art. 6 and enforcement art. 8).
The largest is court expenses, 5.56303 billion yen: ceremonies, receiving state and official guests, imperial journeys, foreign visits, managing imperial property, and maintaining facilities such as the palace — public money accounted by the agency (art. 5). Stone-wall upkeep comes from this court budget.
Still, looking at the walls, one feels how beautiful and strong they are. There seem to be many types; I will look into that and report again.