Ninomaru-goten Palace

The Ninomaru-goten Palace is a sprawling complex of six connected wooden structures, easily identified by the way the buildings stretch horizontally, finished with gold leaf and elaborate carvings. Built beginning in sixteen oh three by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo period, the palace served as his official residence and administrative base whenever he visited Kyoto. It remains the only surviving example of a Japanese fortified palace complex.