Besides Prince Hitachi, who lives in Higashi, Shibuya, many members of the Imperial Family have their official residence on this estate, including the Emperor Emeritus.

During the Meiji Restoration, the head of the clan, Tokugawa Mochitsugu, became a Kazoku noble and lived in the estate.

Mochitsugu opened that very day the estate’s Akasaka Residence (赤坂邸, Akasakatei) to the Emperor, who lived there for 15 years.

[3] After that point, the grounds of the estate have been used to build several residences and palaces, be it for crown princes, Empresses dowager, or close family members.

On the north side of the estate, on the site of the initial Akasaka Residence, Tōgū Palace was built in 1909 and became the Geihinkan.

This palace on the northern side of the estate is a two-floor, reinforced concrete structure with 72 rooms, built in 1960 based on a design by Yoshirō Taniguchi.

The family lives a few meters to the East in a temporary palace built on purpose, called Gokagusho (御仮寓所, litt.

Two of Prince Takamado's daughters (Noriko Senge and Ayako Moriya) have left the imperial family after their marriage to commoners, leaving the widow Princess Hisako, and one daughter, Princess Tsuguko, as remaining members of the branch in the imperial family.