Nagoya Castle - Japan

Two different cards of the same castle in Nagoya, the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. 

The 1st card was sent by Hiroko and the 2nd by Kenji.

Nagoya Castle was constructed on the orders of Ieyasu Tokugawa in order to secure an important position on the Tokaido road and to ward off attacks from the direction of Osaka. Construction was completed in 1612, and the castle is typical of those built on flatlands. Until the Meiji Restoration, Nagoya Castle flourished as the castle in which the Owari lineage of the Tokugawa family, the foremost of the family’s three lineages, resided.

In May 1945, during the air raids on Nagoya in the Second World War, most of the buildings including the main and small dungeons, and the Hommaru Palace, were burned down. Fortunately, however, three corner towers, three gates, and most of the paintings on the sliding doors and walls in the Hommaru Palace survived the fire, and have been handed down as Important Cultural Assets. - in: http://www.nagoyajo.city.nagoya.jp/13_english/index.html