We are walking in the outer gardens.


Around the Imperial Palace, there is a popular running course which is 5 kilometers long. If we run on the road, we can see the same view as in the photo above on the way.

In the photo of the title, we see two watch towers called "Yagura". A closer one is "Tatsumi Yagura". Tatsumi means the direction, southeastward. Tatsumi Yagura is located southeastward from the main tower of the castle. On the left side of the photo, a faraway one is "Fujimi Yagura" which means to get a view of Mt. Fuji because that Yagura, as we see, is located on a hilly place. There used to be 19 Yagura in the castle grounds but now only three are extant. One more Yagura is Fushimi Yagura. 

We see a stone bridge in front which leads to the main gate to the Imperial Palace, and an iron bridge behind. These two bridges are commonly called "the Double Bridge". Behind the Double Bridge, we see a white walled watch tower named "Fushimi Yagura".
By the way, in the outer gardens, we see a bronze statue of samurai. 

 I think that statue is a masterpiece because of its vividness. The face of a samurai is on the blind side. If you join our tour, you can see his facial expression. I am looking forward to your application !

We are looking northward from the top of the foundation stone walls of the castle.
That building with green colored roof is an arena named "Nippon Budoukan" in Kitanomaru Park. Some say the ornament of the roof-top is like an onion.
Here we are in front of the entrance of Nippon Budoukan.
It was originally built as the arena for martial arts competition events like judo, kendo, karate and so on. But a number of pop musicians including rock bands hold concerts in the arena. The massive arena accommodates an audience of 14,000 people.