"Hanzo-mon" gate of old Edo Castle in Tokyo was the special gate just for evacuation.

This gate, which is located at the west end of Edo Castle, present Imperial Palace, stands in exactly the opposite direction from "Otemon" gate, the main gate of the castle. It originally was a "Masugata-mon" style gate, which was specially designed putting importance on defense, however the then authority destroyed in the 19th century to change to an ordinary gate. After being reduced to ashes during the Second World War, a different gate of this castle was moved to this location and reassembled. This gate directly leads to Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, 120 kilometers west of Tokyo, by way of the Koshu Highway. Kofu, at that time, was the land possessed and controlled by "shogun", accordingly it was a kind of shelter in case of emergency. This important gate was strictly guarded all the time by Hattori Hanzo, who was the boss of Ninjas. Thus, this gate was named after him.

Licensed tour guide, travel consultant,

Masahisa Takaki.　

全国通訳案内士　高木聖久。