Heian-kyo: The 794 Capital Behind Kyoto's Street Grid, To-ji, the Imperial Palace, and Byodo-in

The Heian period runs from the move of the capital to Heian-kyo in 794 to the founding of the Kamakura shogunate around 1185, about 390 years. Its biggest legacy is the city of Kyoto itself: the straight grid of streets in central Kyoto and names like Shijo and Gojo come from a plan drawn up more than 1,200 years ago. The sections below go from city planning to the court, temples, culture, and the rise of the samurai, matched to places you can visit today.

Why the capital moved, and what Heian-kyo looked like

Emperor Kanmu first moved the capital from Heijo-kyo in Nara to Nagaoka-kyo in 784, then ten years later, in 794 (Enryaku 13), to the Kyoto basin, naming it Heian-kyo, the “capital of peace and tranquility”. One reason for leaving Nara was to escape the political pull of its great temples, and at first only two official temples were allowed in the new capital.

Heian-kyo copied the Tang capital of Chang’an. An area about 4.5 km east to west and 5.2 km north to south was cut into a grid by east-west avenues (jo) and north-south blocks (bo). The central Suzaku Avenue was about 85 m wide, with the palace precinct, the Daidairi, at its north end and the main gate, Rashomon, at its south end. East of Suzaku was the Left Capital and west of it the Right Capital. The Right Capital was low and damp and was already decaying by the mid-Heian period, so the city shifted east, which is one distant reason Kyoto’s busiest areas cluster around the Kamo River today.

Today’s Shijo, Gojo, and Marutamachi streets broadly follow the old grid, and Senbon Street runs roughly along the line of Suzaku Avenue. Kyoto addresses that say agaru (go north) or sagaru (go south) are giving directions within this same grid.

Source: Heian Jingu: history.

The palace and the aristocrats’ Kyoto

At the heart of the city was the Daidairi, where the emperor lived and governed. It stood around today’s Senbon-Marutamachi, but after repeated fires it fell out of use. The site is now houses, with only roadside markers such as the one for the Great Hall of State.

Today’s Kyoto Imperial Palace is on a different site. It served as the imperial residence for about 540 years, from Emperor Kogon’s accession in 1331 until Emperor Meiji moved to Tokyo in 1869, and most of its buildings date from an 1855 rebuild. Since 2016 it has been open all year, free and without booking, through the Seishomon Gate, closed on Mondays (or the next day after a holiday). Imperial Household Agency staff run free guided tours of about 50 minutes four times a day.

To picture the Heian palace, visit Heian Jingu. It was built in 1895 for the 1,100th anniversary of the move to Heian-kyo, and its vermilion buildings copy the Heian-kyo Chodoin hall complex, but they are Meiji-era buildings, not Heian remains.

Sources: Imperial Household Agency: Kyoto Imperial Palace, Heian Jingu.

To-ji and Sai-ji on either side of Rashomon

Outside the palace, the first large buildings of Heian-kyo were the two official temples flanking Rashomon. To-ji and Sai-ji, built soon after the move, were the only temples in the capital at first.

In 823 Emperor Saga gave To-ji to the monk Kukai (Kobo Daishi), and it became the head temple of Shingon esoteric Buddhism, formally named Kyo-o-gokoku-ji. To-ji’s five-story pagoda, about 55 m tall, is the tallest wooden tower in Japan. It burned down several times, and the current pagoda was donated by Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1644. The Main Hall and Lecture Hall are open all year for a fee, and the Lecture Hall’s “three-dimensional mandala” of 21 statues is the highlight. The inside of the pagoda opens only at New Year and during spring and autumn special openings.

Sai-ji later disappeared and is now only a park on the site. Rashomon is long gone too; a stone marker for it stands in a small children’s park near Kujo Street, within walking distance of To-ji.

Source: To-ji (Kyo-o-gokoku-ji).

Kana, The Tale of Genji, and Byodo-in: a native court culture

The biggest change of the period came in culture rather than buildings. In 894, at Sugawara no Michizane’s suggestion, embassies to Tang China were halted, and Japan turned from importing Chinese culture to absorbing and reshaping it, producing what is called kokufu bunka, native-style culture.

Hiragana and katakana took shape in this period, and women at court wrote in kana. Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji and Sei Shonagon’s The Pillow Book both date from around the year 1000. In politics, the Fujiwara clan ruled as regents through marriage ties to the imperial family, peaking under Fujiwara no Michinaga, a system known as sekkan seiji.

Michinaga’s son Fujiwara no Yorimichi turned his villa at Uji into the temple Byodo-in in 1052 and built its Amida Hall, the Phoenix Hall, the next year. It is the building on the back of the 10-yen coin. Entry to the garden and the Hoshokan museum is JPY 700 for adults. To go inside the Phoenix Hall you register separately inside the grounds and give a JPY 300 donation; groups of 35 go in every 20 minutes, and slots can close early when it is busy.

Source: Byodo-in: visitor guide.

The samurai arrive and the Heian period ends

While court culture flourished, warrior power grew in the provinces. In 1086 Emperor Shirakawa abdicated and kept ruling as a retired emperor, starting the system of cloistered rule (insei), and the struggles between emperors, retired emperors, and the Fujiwara came to rely more and more on samurai force.

After the Hogen Rebellion of 1156 and the Heiji Rebellion of 1159, Taira no Kiyomori became Grand Minister in 1167 and the Taira clan controlled the court. War between the Minamoto and Taira broke out in 1180, and in 1185 the Taira were destroyed at Dan-no-ura, in today’s Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi. Minamoto no Yoritomo set up a warrior government in Kamakura, and political power left Kyoto for the first time. The emperor and court stayed in Kyoto, however, and it remained the nominal capital until 1869.

Common misunderstandings

Last, a few points that are often confused.

The first is thinking today’s Kyoto Imperial Palace is the Heian palace. Its current site was settled only from the 14th century, and the original palace stood further west, around Senbon-Marutamachi.

The second is treating Heian Jingu as an ancient Heian building. It is an 1895 Meiji-era building in the style of the Heian-kyo Chodoin.

The third is assuming the whole of Heian-kyo was built as planned and flourished ever after. The Right Capital decayed early, and the city actually grew east, later spreading across the Kamo River.

The fourth is calling Kyoto the capital for over a thousand years without noting that it lost real political power after 1185. The governments of the Kamakura, Muromachi, and Edo periods sat in Kamakura, in Kyoto’s Muromachi district, and in Edo, while Kyoto kept its status as the emperor’s capital until the move to Tokyo in the Meiji era.

Useful terms

• Heian-kyo: the Heian capital
• Jobo: the grid of avenues and blocks
• Rashomon: the main south gate
• Kokufu bunka: native-style culture
• Sekkan seiji: rule by Fujiwara regents

References

• Heian Jingu
• Imperial Household Agency: Kyoto Imperial Palace
• To-ji (Kyo-o-gokoku-ji)
• Byodo-in: visitor guide