Kyoto: The Imperial Palace Grounds

The Imperial Palace was closed when we visited.  You have to book tours in advance and they palace was going to be closed while we were there.  Bummer.  We still walked around the grounds.  Today they are a large park, but when the palace was still in use, the area was a wealthy district in the city.

All we really saw was the wall around the palace and the gates.  Thankfully, Japanese gates are worth stopping to look at.

The policeman below guarded this gate.  If you zoom in you can probably find some security cameras.  No, the cameras are not original, although I'm sure they would've helped some emperors sleep better.

 

 

The roof thatching is made of bark.  The time it must have taken to cut and shape all those strips of bark is amazing.  The woodwork, ceramic roof tiles, and gold leaf are amazing.  And this is just a side entrance!  We didn't even get to see the palace.

 This was the front gate.  Many of the old thatched roofs were covered in mold.  I wonder how long those roofs last before they have to be replaced.  You can see the tiny slats on the bottom of the roof.  Each one has to shaped to make those corners and to get the angle.  It is very detailed and precise work.

I'll post more pictures soon.  I'll try to make the posts build in interest.  I can't make any promises, but one of them might even have some video.