Imperial Palace Tour | Kyoto | Japan Travels

My friends and I only sought for one of either the Tokyo or the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Frankly we thought visiting both was an absurd idea. Don’t get me wrong, we love our history but going Imperial Palace hopping is overkill. We sought the council of our wise Japanese friend and she advised us to visit the one in Kyoto. It was older. It was richer (in culture). It was THE one. And also because she grew up in Kyoto and obviously was biased towards Kyoto.

So Kyoto it was!

We stayed at a hotel 10-15 minute walk from the Imperial Palace and it was a very pleasant walk to get there. When we arrived at the entrance (Seishomon Gate) we were stopped by Palace security. They were pretty legit. They were government police which I thought was extremely cool but I was too afraid to take pictures. They told us we needed to apply for permission to get inside. Whaaat? But turns out the procedure was pretty quick and simple.

You must have your passport, which as a tourist you will have with you at all times anyway (right?!). The officers will ask you to go to the palace office nearby where you will need to fill out a form. It only took us ten minutes and we had about 45 minutes until the next tour.

Office where you will need to fill out an admission form.

We had a quick breakfast at the café just a few paces from the office. Mind you if you’re the first customer, order something easy to prepare.  Our food took forever to get served and it gave us only 15 minutes to scoff everything down, visit the bathroom, run to the Palace Security with our papers and finally join up with the 10am tour group.

We watched a quick video about the Palace before the tour guide came in and whipped us out of there to initiate the tour. There were also lockers in case we had anything we didn’t want to take with us during the hour-long tour.

First we visited the Shodaibunoma which was a waiting area for official visitors. Each room had a different traditional ink painting which went according to rank. The room which had the Tiger obviously was for higher ranked officials. The lining on the tatami mat was also an indication of rank (white is higher than red).

We walked around the building to find the inner gates. The picture below is the Gekkamon Gate and the one below that, probably the most pictured gate as it frames the Shishinden, is the Jomeimon Gate.

Here are some more interesting facts I’ve learned from the lady tour guide.

1. The endings of the roof rafters are painted in white. Although it serves somewhat as a decorative feature, it actually has the important function of protecting the wood from rotting.

2. The golden flower found in almost every building in the vicinity is actually the family crest of the imperial family. The flower is chrysanthemum and is embedded in most official buildings around Kyoto.

3. If you have a look at the Palace buildings, most do not have tiling on the roof. The roof is actually made of bark from cypress wood. It is very strong, durable, and extremely flexible.

4. Holding the bark together is not your ordinary metal nail – but wooden nails. These wooden nails are also very tough and can withhold being hammered down onto the roof.

Next we visited an inner courtyard, the Seiryoden. In the garden there is white sand spread on the ground in which two types of bamboos are grown. We also learned a little something about the Emperor and the Empress and how many layers they wore (so much that it got pretty heavy) – which was utterly the best thing in the time of no electricity and heating. The floors, however, were heated and distributed by small pipes (I think, if I remember right – or did I make that bit up?).

We walked past some gardens but couldn't really pay attention to the tour guide because of some rabid mosquitoes trying to eat me. Although, in the midst of war against those mosquitoes I did hear the tour guide explaining something about an ancient sport the Japanese played in a space called Kemarinoiwa (picture below).

The objective of this sport, Kemari, is basically to cooperate with others and use anything but your hands to keep the ball in the air. Like hackey-soccer-sack-I guess? Kind of like this:

Then we went to the Otsunegoten where the Emperor lived (back then). By this time I was extremely distracted and slightly paranoid about ninja mosquitoes, took very little photos and was pretty eager to get away as far as possible from the gardens. Unfortunately, the gardens were the near end of the tour and I regret spending that final lap worrying about some damn mosquitoes.

Overall the Kyoto Imperial Palace tour was an amazing insight to the traditional culture of Japan. The tour lets you appreciate up close the decorative features of traditional Japanese architectural designs and Imperial living. The tour is free but make sure you bring your passport with you. And maybe also an insect repellent.

Peaces x :) 

Back of the Seiryoden