Our second stop on Saturday's tour, the Nijo Castle was a palace used by some of Japan's Shogun rulers from 1626 to 1867, when power was returned to the Imperial family. Various components of the palace compound have been destroyed, usually by fire, and replaced over the centuries. We had to remove our shoes here too, which is a custom in any Japanese home anyway.
The rooms inside the palace are totally sparse. The floors are covered with tatami mats and the interior walls have murals. But there isn't a speck of furniture. People sat on the mats on the floor, ate off of small tables set in front of them, and slept on mattresses and bedding kept hidden away behind the walls during the day. Quite a contrast from Versailles!
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