Imperial Park (GPS: 35.02541, 135.76212) is a spacious park growing with stately pines, in the heart of Kyoto. Also called Kyoto Gyoen, it is the site of the Imperial Palace and the Retired Emperor's Palace, built by the shogun Tokugawa for the retired emperor Go-Mizuno'o in 1630.
On the northwest corner of the Imperial park are imperial villas Shugaku-in and Katsura. On the southern end of the park is a pond with an arched bridge. This part of the park once held the estates of noblemen. Now it's all turned into parkland.
Front view of the Kyoto Imperial Palace
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kyotopalace.jpg Author: moja