Nagoya Castle - Ninomaru

Ninomaru

The Ninomaru Palace is thought to have been completed in 1617. Tokugawa Yoshinao, the first feudal lord of Owari, moved to this palace from Honmaru Palace in 1620. Besides serving as the residence of the lord, the palace functioned as the administrative center of the feudal government. Many more palaces were built in later years.

The Tokugawa Museum has a partial reconstruction of the reception chambers, such as the Kusari-no-ma and the Hiro-ma, which include display alcoves, staggered shelves, and writing alcoves equipped with authentic furnishings.

The palace had two stages for performances of Noh: the omote-butai, or front stage, and oku-butai, the rear stage. Noh was performed to commemorate a lord's succession to a fiefdom and to celebrate the birth of an heir. The Tokugawas of Owari were patrons of many Noh actors. The modern Nagoya Noh Theatre, opened in April 1997, is situated just south of the front gate of Nagoya Castle. A reconstruction of one of the Noh stages of the Ninomaru can be seen in the Tokugawa Art Museum. The tradition of courtly Noh is upheld in the Nagoya Noh Theatre, located in the Sannomaru enceinte.

The Ninonomaru last existed in the Kaei period (1848–54). Facilities for conducting clan affairs, residences for retainers, gardens, and stables (Mukaiyashiki) were located there. The western two-thirds of the area was known as the Oshiro (the castle), while the eastern one-third was called Ninomaru Goten (the palace). The gardens originally included flowering trees, stone lanterns, and a traditional Japanese-style tea arbour. After the Meiji Restoration, the original was demolished to build army barracks, but it was restored and designated as an official scenic spot after the war.

Three chief retainers of the Owari branch were executed in the Ninomaru Palace in 1868 in what became known as the Aomatsuba Incident. Early in the Showa era, around 1926, a monument was erected at the execution site. The exact site is unknown; it is thought to have taken place 100 metres south of the current site of the monument. The stone stelae was re-erected after the original one disappeared.