Founded in 794 under the name meaning 'capital of peace and tranquillity', on a grid modelled on Chang'an (794)
Heian-kyo; it gave its name to the Heian period
Geography · Cities
Kyoto
founded as Heian-kyo in 794
Japan — on the Kamo River, in the Yamashiro basin
Laid out in 794 on a Chinese grid plan as Heian-kyo, the "capital of peace and tranquillity", it was the imperial capital of Japan for over a thousand years until the emperor moved to Tokyo in 1869. Largely spared from wartime bombing, it keeps some two thousand temples and shrines, seventeen of which make up a single World Heritage Site, and it gave its name to the 1997 climate protocol.
How to spot them
- ▸Imperial capital for more than a millennium, but not the capital today
- ▸Quiz clue: 'Heian-kyo', 'the Golden Pavilion', 'Fushimi Inari', 'Gion', 'the 1997 protocol'
- ▸A grid-planned city on a river in a mountain-ringed basin
- ▸Removed from the atomic bomb target list on the insistence of a US Secretary of War
Key facts
It was the seat of the emperor for over a thousand years until 1869, when the court moved east (794–1869)
The court moved to Edo, renamed Tokyo, the 'eastern capital'
US Secretary of War Henry Stimson had it struck from the atomic bomb target list (1945)
He is said to have honeymooned there; Nagasaki was bombed instead of the next city on the list
Its gold-leafed lakeside pavilion was burned down by a novice monk in 1950 and rebuilt five years later (1950)
Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion; the arson inspired a novel by Yukio Mishima
Thousands of vermilion torii gates, donated by businesses, tunnel up a mountainside shrine to the god of rice
Fushimi Inari-taisha
The 1997 climate change protocol setting binding emissions targets was signed here (1997)
Adopted at COP3 and named after the city
Its rock garden at Ryoan-ji sets fifteen stones in raked gravel so that one is always hidden from view
The best-known karesansui, or dry landscape garden, in Japan
Quick-fire facts
- •Capital of Japan from 794 to 1869; the name simply means 'capital city'
- •The Kamo River runs through it; it sits in a basin ringed by mountains on three sides
- •Population of about 1.4 million, making it around Japan's eighth-largest city
- •Seventeen sites form the UNESCO World Heritage listing 'Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto', inscribed in 1994
- •Nijo Castle, built for the Tokugawa shoguns, has 'nightingale floors' that squeak to warn of intruders
- •Kiyomizu-dera's wooden stage stands on pillars above a hillside; 'to jump off the stage' is a Japanese idiom for taking the plunge
- •Gion is the best-known geisha district; Kyoto uses the term geiko, and apprentices are maiko
- •Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion, was never actually covered in silver
- •The Gion Matsuri, held every July, is one of Japan's three great festivals
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Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Kyoto