Edo Castle Had Highest Tower In Japan

Above, Osaka Castle. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

At the present site of the Imperial Palace once stood Edo Castle. Edo was the former name of Tokyo.

A recent study has found that Edo Castle was the tallest in Japan. It stood even taller than 1954's Godzilla and taller than Osaka Castle and Nagoya Castle.

According to The Japan News (Yomiuri Shimbun):

The roofs and walls were jet black, and gold shachihoko, mythical fish with lionlike heads, adorned the castle tower, which rose nearly 60 meters above the ground. 

This was Kaneido Tenshu, the last tower of Edo Castle to be built. Although the castle was destroyed by fire in 1657, we know it looked this way thanks to the research of Prof. Masayuki Miura, an expert on cultural assets at Hiroshima University’s Graduate School of Letters. 

Excluding its base, Edo Castle was then the tallest castle in the nation, exceeding Osaka Castle and Nagoya Castle, and its structure was capable of withstanding large earthquakes. 

“It combined the technologies of the time, and was truly the greatest building in Japan,” Miura said.

The article goes on to state that there is an association in Japan that wants to rebuild Edo Castle. It is estimated that the cost to rebuild Edo Castle would be about ¥35 billion.

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