The Nijo Castle was built in the year 1626 as a residence for the Tokugawa Family. After 1867, the Castle became Imperial property
and in 1939 it was donated to the City of Kyoto. Ever since then, this beautiful castle has been open to the public. Nowadays, this wonderful example of traditional Japanese architecture and art/decoration is visited by lots of tourist from Japan and many other countries.
Basically, the fortification consists of one external moat and stone wall, the Ninomaru Palace and gardens inside of it, and an inner moat and wall keeping the Honmaru Palace and the respective gardens inside. This castle used to have a five-story turret, but it was destroyed by a fire in the year 1750.