Shoin-style Architecture Representing Japan

You have to wear slippers to go inside. When you enter inside, the aroma of hinoki (Japanese cypress) wafted through the air! All the hallways are made of hinoki.

Map of the palace

The Hommaru Goten building is of the Shoin-style architectural style, with a total area of 3,100 square meters, consisting of 13 buildings and over 30 rooms. Shoin-style is an architectural style completed between the Muromachi period and the early Edo period, and is characterized by being composed mainly of "Shoin" rooms for meeting and serving guests.

"Omote Shoin", the Most Prestigious Room

Ichi-no-ma (primary waiting room)

"Omote-shoin" was the largest and most prestigious room in the building at the time of its construction. It is a large Irimoya-style building (building with a half-hipped roof) with roofs and eaves on all four sides. It consists of five rooms: an upper-level room (15 tatami mats), an Ichi-no-ma (24 tatami mats), a Ni-no-ma (24 tatami mats), a San-no-ma (39 tatami mats), and a Nando-no-ma (24 tatami mats), which was called a Hiroma in the Edo period.

In the Hommaru Palace, tablets are installed to allow visitors to experience the "Hommaru Palace AR Experience". Under the supervision of experts, the events that would have occurred in the Hommaru Palace are reproduced in high-quality, drama-like images. Please come and experience the world of 400 years ago in AR!

Facsimile Reproduction Using Traditional Painting Methods

Until the prewar period, each room was decorated with alcove and fusumae (paintings on fusuma) of different subjects by painters of the Kano school, the largest school of Japanese painting in history, such as Sadanobu Kano and Tanyu Kano.

Bamboo forest with tiger motif

Be sure to take a look at the wall paintings that adorn the Hommaru Palace.

For the restoration of Hommaru Palace, the reproduction copy of the partition painting based on valuable historical materials is scientifically analyzed for pigments, materials, etc. It has been meticulously restored according to the traditional painting methods of Edo period painters.

Tsugi-no-ma and Jyodan-no-ma (Lord's audience chamber)

Tsugi-no-ma and Jyodan-no-ma (Lord's audience chamber)

This one is called "Fuzoku-zu" painted in the Tsugi-no-Ma and Jyodan-no-Ma (Lord's Audience Chamber) rooms. The paintings depict seasonal scenes, famous places, and customs of Kyoto and Wakayama with gentle brush strokes. The wonderful wall paintings in each room are a sight to behold.

In fact, not everything has been faithfully reproduced. The areas where there is no proof that the painting was painted have been daringly left only in gold leaf.

Craftsmanship in the Details

Transom carvings in Hommaru Palace's Jorakuden featuring flowers, birds, winds, and the moon.

The Hommaru Palace is decorated with gorgeous and ornate decorations on the ceilings, long banisters, transoms, and everywhere else. The most striking of these is the richly colored carved transoms found only in the most prestigious section of the building, Jorakuden.

Ichi-no-ma and Jyodan-no-ma

It was only possible to reproduce the castle so faithfully because of the 309 measured maps, approximately 700 photographs taken before the war, and approximately 2,000 foundation stones which were preserved. There are few examples in Japan where such a large number of historical documents of castles, which are historical cultural heritage, have been preserved.

Oriage-kogumi-go ceiling. It is decorated with black lacquer and gold leaf.

The "black lacquered coffered ceiling with metal fittings" in the San-no-ma room. The ceiling is coated with black lacquer and has decorative metal fittings, and each lattice is decorated with a ceiling panel.

The most prestigious ceiling in the Jorakuden Jodan-no-Ma with black lacquer two-layered folded-up gold lacquered ceiling.

Be sure to check out the ceiling of the Hommaru Palace. From the ordinary "Saobuchi-ceiling" to the lattice-like "Gouten-ceiling" and the higher "Oriage-ceiling," the ceiling is decorated in a variety of ways to show the rating of the building. The more complex the structure, the higher the rating.

The decorative metal fittings and ornaments in each room are also the result of meticulous attention to detail. There are approximately 3,000 pieces, including the roof, sliding door pulls, and nail covers on the long posts. Each piece is made by hand by craftsmen.

When I actually visited, I found the restored Hommaru Palace to be an even more wonderful place than I had imagined. Please visit to feel the appearance of 400 years ago!

[Hommaru Palace]
Address: 〒 460-0031 Honmaru 1, Naka Ward, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
Business hours: 9:00-17:00
https://www.nagoyajo.city.nagoya.jp/guide/honmarugoten/

Buy Souvenirs at Nagoya Castle Hommaru Palace Museum Shop!

The Nagoya Castle Hommaru Palace Museum Shop is located adjacent to the Hommaru Palace. Many attractive items are available, such as exclusive items related to Hommaru Palace, gold leaf candy, fabric products, and books.

Items related to the wall paintings are available too.

Narumi tie-dye tenugui (hand towel)

On your way back from Hommaru Palace, check out the museum store for souvenirs!

[Nagoya Castle Hommaru Palace Museum Shop]
Address: 1-1 Honmaru, Naka Ward, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture 460-0031
Business hours: 9:00-16:30

If you visit Nagoya Castle in fall, it is the time of year when the autumn leaves are at their best . Please visit Hommaru Palace while you are there to see the autumn leaves.

Photography by Kanae Hori