Akasaka Palace: Japan’s State Guest House and Meiji-Era Imperial Residence
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Japan
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Japanese
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Palace
On this page12 sections
History
Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan, is a former imperial residence built between 1899 and 1909 in the Western neo-Baroque style during the Meiji period. It now serves as one of the two official state guest houses of the Government of Japan, receiving visiting heads of state, royal families, and other foreign leaders.
From Tokugawa Estate to Imperial Residence
Before the Meiji Restoration, the site formed part of the residence of the Kishū Domain, one of the principal collateral branches of the Tokugawa family. The Tokugawa shogunate was Japan’s military government before 1868. After the restoration, the land passed to the Imperial Household, the institution surrounding Japan’s emperor and imperial family.
Construction of the palace began in 1899 and continued until 1909. It was designed by Katayama Tōkuma, a Japanese architect who had studied under the British architect and educator Josiah Conder. The building was originally known as Tōgū Palace, meaning the Crown Prince’s Palace, because it was intended as the residence of the designated heir to the imperial throne. When the Crown Prince’s residence was later moved elsewhere, the building acquired the name Akasaka Palace.
The Residence of Crown Prince Hirohito
Crown Prince Hirohito, later known as Emperor Shōwa, moved into the palace on 28 August 1923 while his principal residence underwent renovation. Four days later, on 1 September, the Great Kantō Earthquake struck. His temporary occupation of Akasaka Palace continued until September 1928.
During this period, Hirohito married Princess Nagako, who later became Empress Kōjun. The couple had two daughters while living at the palace, Princess Shigeko and Princess Sachiko. Sachiko died at six months of age.
Government Use After the Second World War
After the Second World War, the Imperial Household relinquished the palace to the Japanese government, ending its use as an imperial residence. Several government institutions subsequently occupied the building and grounds. The National Diet Library was established there in 1948, and the Cabinet Legislation Bureau and the organizing committee for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics also used the complex.
Japan’s postwar economic recovery created a need for a larger official residence and reception venue for foreign dignitaries. The former residence of Prince Asaka, now the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, had served this purpose but was considered too small. In 1967, the government therefore decided to convert Akasaka Palace into a state guest house.
Conversion into a State Guest House
Architect Tōgō Murano directed the renovation, which lasted more than five years and concluded in 1974. The palace formally began its current function that year. United States President Gerald Ford became its first official guest, during the first visit to Japan by a sitting U.S. president.
Since then, Akasaka Palace has accommodated official state guests and hosted international diplomatic meetings. It held G7 summits in 1979, 1986, and 1993, as well as meetings of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. These summits brought national leaders together for high-level discussions, while other areas of the palace have supported treaty signings, receptions, and formal dinners.
Conservation and National Status
The complex closed for renovation from 2006 to 2009 and reopened in April 2009. In December of that year, the main building, main gate, and garden with its fountain were designated National Treasures of Japan. This was the first National Treasure designation for a property from the Meiji period, the era of imperial rule and rapid modernization that began with the 1868 restoration.
The Cabinet Office administers Akasaka Palace. Its continuing use for diplomacy connects its present governmental role with the architectural ambitions of the Meiji period and its earlier history as an imperial residence.
Remains
The palace complex covers approximately 117,000 square metres, with the main building occupying about 15,000 square metres of built area. The principal structure is a large Western neo-Baroque palace, a revival style known for monumental composition, elaborate ornament, and European palace forms. A smaller Japanese-style building stands along its western side, creating a contrasting architectural element within the grounds.
Grounds and Exterior
A road or walking route approximately 3.25 kilometres long encircles the palace grounds without road crossings. Entry to the main building is through a tall iron gate. The main gate, the garden with its fountain, and the principal palace structure form part of the complex’s National Treasure designation, while the palace’s exterior recalls nineteenth-century European royal architecture, including forms compared with Vienna’s Hofburg Palace and Buckingham Palace.
Entrance Hall and Main Staircase
Beyond the gate, a large entrance hall contains a black-and-white checkerboard floor. In Japan, this pattern is called ichimatsu; here it is made from black Japanese slate and white Italian marble. A long red carpet extends from the middle of the hall toward the central staircase.
The staircase is built of Italian marble and covered by a broad red carpet. Polished red marble lines its side walls, and the Imperial chrysanthemum emblem appears above the stairway. Higher still, a vaulted ceiling is covered with gold leaf. Murals at the northern and southern ends represent sunset and sunrise respectively. The sunrise scene is positioned above the staircase, while the sunset scene accompanies the descent.
Formal Reception Halls
Asahi Hall lies on the upper floor beyond the Grand Hall, at the top of the main staircase. During the palace’s imperial period, it was called the First Guest Room and served as a formal reception room. After the building became a state guest house in 1974, it was renamed Asahi, a word associated with the morning sun or sunrise.
The hall functions as a formal salon and meeting room for visiting leaders and royalty. State receptions, summit meetings, and other major diplomatic events take place there. Its decoration includes two large chandeliers, a high decorated ceiling, red marble, and gilded neo-Baroque ornament inspired by nineteenth-century European palaces. Asahi Hall closed in 2019 for extensive work to preserve its original ceiling paintings and renew its interior decoration.
Another principal hall above the entrance hall forms a design pair with Asahi Hall. Originally called the Second Guest Room, it takes its present name from phoenix reliefs on its walls. The room follows the French Empire style, an early nineteenth-century style associated with imperial grandeur. Gilded plaster reliefs, large chandeliers, and embroidered red furnishings shape its interior, which is used for treaty-signing ceremonies, summit meetings, and other high-level state events.
Ballroom and Dining Hall
The ballroom takes its name from the classical Japanese Noh play Hagoromo, or “The Heavenly Robe.” Noh is a traditional theatrical form combining drama, music, chanting, and stylized movement. A ceiling painting in the ballroom shows a celestial maiden descending to earth. Gold and crimson decoration surrounds a polished parquet floor, and three large chandeliers contain approximately 7,000 crystal pieces. The room is used for official receptions and state evening events.
The main dining hall has walls clad in Japanese mahogany. Its decoration includes enamel medallions of flowers and birds made by Namikawa Sōsuke, together with ceiling paintings in oil depicting peacocks and flowers. The hall serves state dinners and official press conferences.
Yushintei Japanese Wing
The separate Yushintei wing was built in 1974 to designs by architect Yoshiro Taniguchi. Unlike the Western-style main palace, it provides a traditional Japanese setting for foreign guests, with spaces intended for tea ceremony, flower arrangement, and Japanese cuisine.
Yushintei contains rooms with tatami floors, traditional mats made in standardized rectangular units. Its inner garden uses white gravel and stones from Kyoto, and a small tea room contains a calligraphy scroll from Daitokuji Temple. For formal Japanese meals, the central table can be lowered beneath the floor, leaving the room open for ceremonies and cultural performances, including kimono presentation, ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging flowers, and traditional Japanese dance.
