Alexandre Gervais

With no grassy spaces to use as gardens, Tokyoites often decorate their doorways, stoops and walkways with loads upon loads of flowerpots. Here are what we’ll call flowerpot gardens. Expanding beyond doorway yards and shop fronts, these flowerpots are placed in spaces you’d never imagined before: pots as decor of parking lot curbs, boarded-up basement windows or even construction sites?!PingMag

The lantern was introduced to Japan at the same time as Buddhism, in the 6th century. The ishi-doro or stone lantern is the most common type, gracing gardens, temples and shrines throughout Japan. Ishi-doro come in many different sizes and shapes, but common to them all is a hollowed upper part, made to hold electric lights, candles, or oil lamps, lighted on special occasions. The Japanese Connection

The Kyōto Imperial Palace is the latest of the imperial palaces built at or near its site in the north-eastern part of the old capital on Heiankyō after the abandonment of the larger original Heian Palace (大内裏 daidairi) that was located to the west of the current palace during the Heian Period. The Palace lost much of its function at the time of the Meiji Restoration, when the capital functions were moved to Tōkyō in 1869. However, the Taishō and Shōwa Emperors still had their coronation ceremonies at Kyōto Gosho.Wikipedia

The Kyoto Imperial Palace (京都御所 Kyōto Gosho) is an imperial palace of Japan, though the Emperor of Japan is not in residence. The Emperor has resided at the Tokyo Imperial Palace since 1869 (Meiji Restoration) and ordered the preservation of the Kyōto Imperial Palace in 1877. Today the grounds are open to the public, and the Imperial Household Agency hosts public tours of the buildings several times a day.Wikipedia

The Palace Grounds include a number of buildings, along with the Imperial Residence, or dairi (内裏). The neighboring building to the north is the sentō (仙洞), or residence of the retired Emperor, and beyond that, across Imadegawa Avenue, sits Dōshisha University. The Imperial Household Agency maintains the building and the grounds. They also run public tours, requiring a passport or Alien Registration Card and at least 20 minutes advance notice before allowing foreign visitors into the Imperial Palace.Wikipedia

The center of the Shishinden is surrounded by a hisashi (庇), a long, thin hallway which surrounded the main wing of an aristocrat’s home, in traditional Heian architecture. Within this is a wide open space, crossed by boarded-over sections, leading to the central throne room. The Throne itself, called takamikura (高御座), sits on an octagonal dais, five meters above the floor, and could be separated from the rest of the room by a curtain. The sliding door that hid the Emperor from view is called kenjō no shōji (賢聖障子), and had an image of 32 Chinese saints painted upon it, which became one of the primary models for all of Heian period painting.Wikipedia

The castle area has several gardens and groves of cherry and ume trees. The Ninomaru garden was designed by the famous landscape architect and tea master, Kobori Enshu. It is located between the two main rings of fortifications, next to the palace of the same name. The garden has a large pond with three islands and features numerous carefully placed stones and topiary pine trees. The Seiryū-en garden is the most recent part of the Nijō Castle. It was constructed in 1965 in the northern part of the complex, as a facility for the reception of official guests of the city of Kyoto and as a venue for cultural events. Seiryū-en has two tea houses and more than 1000 carefully arranged stones.Wikipedia

The palace is situated in the Kyōto Gyoen (京都御苑 kyōto gyoen), a rectangular enclosure 1.3 km north to south and 0.7 km east to west which also contains the Sento Imperial Palace gardens. The Gyoen dates from the early Edo Period when the residence of high court nobles were grouped close together with the Palace and the area walled. When the capital was moved to Tokyo, the residences of the court nobles were demolished and most of Kyōto Gyoen is now a park open to the public.Wikipedia