Ruins of Tenshukaku (Tower Keep)

The stone foundation at the center of Nijo Castle rises like a jagged, empty pedestal where the five-story Tenshukaku once stood. Tokugawa Iemitsu ordered the tower moved here from Fushimi Castle in sixteen twenty-six to impress the emperor during a royal visit. It loomed over the city for nearly two and a half centuries until a bolt of lightning struck the structure in seventeen fifty, burning the massive wooden keep to the ground. The fire left only these blackened stones behind.