Near Takebashi, Edo Castle (Imperial Palace) stone walls impress me. Lunch walks in East Gardens to study walls are pleasant.
Start at Honmaru. From Palaceside up Kii-no-kuni-zaka through Kitahanebashi-mon; deepest Honmaru holds the tenshu base walls. Distantly small, up close huge
—11 m high, ~41 m east-west, ~45 m north-south, granite. A ramp leads up =photos right top to a viewing deck with benches =photos right bottom. Palaceside's white elevator tower appears in the red circle (summer photos—green trees).
June 30 blog: stone finish × stacking = six types; tenshu base is "kirikomi-hagi × nuno-zumi"—tight fit, horizontal seams, corner "soroban-zumi" for strength.
Tenshu rebuilt under Ieyasu, Hidetada, Iemitsu; first build 1606 by Kuroda Nagamasa (Kanbe's heir). Rebuilt 1622; after 1637 and 1653 repairs, five-story keep rose 44.8 m above walls—but burned in 1657 Meireki fire. Rebuilt 1658 by Kaga lord Maeda Tsunanori—the walls we see.
No keep was built atop again—more later.