Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa Memorial Park was added to Your Favorites!
Nikko NP, Tochigi
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One core began as the Kishu Tokugawa lords’ Edo residence. Given to the Imperial Household in 1872, it became Akasaka Palace and a temporary imperial home before its three-story section was moved here.
After a 1873 fire made Akasaka a temporary palace, new fittings weren’t ready; Tokugawa hollyhock crests were covered with imperial chrysanthemums. Restoration revealed both layers on the villa’s metalwork.
From July 10, 1944, Prince Akihito spent about a year here as a wartime evacuee. His lessons began in a lab at the neighboring botanical garden; he later recalled skiing in the villa grounds.
The villa’s only three-story room once hosted a very modern royal meal: before it was moved to Nikko, Emperor Meiji and Empress ate Western-style food there in July 1873.
Of the villa’s 106 rooms, 83 were assigned to retainers and court ladies. Their quarters filled the north side, while the emperor and empress occupied rooms to the south.
This sprawling wooden villa brings together Edo, Meiji and Taisho-era construction. Its rooms are linked by corridors, and every roof except the three-story section connects in one long line.
The restored billiard room holds a four-ball table with no pockets—unlike modern pool. Japan’s imperial household took up billiards in the early Meiji era as a way to socialize with people from abroad.
The grounds once had a riding course. Crown Prince Yoshihito, later Emperor Taisho, rode for exercise and sometimes continued on horseback to the neighboring botanical garden or into Nikko town.
A garden cherry, estimated at 300–350 years old, was already growing on banker Kobayashi’s estate before the villa existed. Despite its name, Nikko City classifies it as semi-weeping: its branches don’t reach the ground.
Before this became an imperial retreat, local banker Kobayashi Nempo’s garden villa covered about 23,000 m²—roughly a quarter of the site. Part of his house became the Empress’s living room and study.
The audience hall contains a throne, but the emperor received official visitors standing. Its formal Japanese shoin-style room had British carpet laid over tatami, blending court ceremony with imported style.
A 1901 plan shows springs and waterfalls in the villa garden; both have since vanished. Yet the garden itself was altered little even as the buildings were repeatedly enlarged, preserving much of its original layout.
