Hikone, the castle saved by the Emperor

Since their appearance, the Japanese castles were symbols of power for their rulers. Because of this fact, at the beginning of the Meiji Period, when the feudal domains were abolished, a large number of castles were destroyed...

The castles belonging to the lords that fought on the side of Shogun Tokugawa, as the case of Tsuruga-jō in Aizu, were destroyed without any appeal. Fortunately, some castles belonging to the winning side were spared, as the Kochi Castle, which is now the only Japanese castle that still has all the original core buildings.

Each of the 12 surviving castles has an interesting story: the castle from today's photo, Hikone-jō, was scheduled in 1878 for dismantling, but was saved from demolition by the Emperor Meiji itself, after a visit to the Hikone area...