Philip Sandoz - Kyoto & Nara The Soul of Japan

Imperial Kyoto

During the Nara period, as described earlier, Buddhist monasteries and the monks themselves increasingly became serious players in politics, with the result that by 784 the emperor decided that close proximity to such institutions was a threat to imperial power. Nagaoka, a village some thirty miles from Nara, was the site originally chosen to house the capital. Its ascendancy, however, was short-lived. Ten years later, after several misfortunes had rocked the imperial family, Nagaoka came to be thought of as a place of evil spirits and the capital was moved yet again. The site chosen was the village of Uda, which was renamed Heiankyo (capital of peace), later also known as Miyako (imperial residence), and eventually, after the Meiji Restoration of the nineteenth century, Kyoto (capital city).

During the almost eleven hundred years Kyoto remained the capital of Japan many changes occurred. The country developed from a collection of fiefdoms into the initial stages of democratic power. In 794, however, the Chinese influence over Japan was still very strong, and, as Nara had been, Kyoto was planned along Chinese lines as a walled city with a double moat. Shortly after the move to Kyoto, political power was removed from the imperial family with the country being in effect run by a series of clans and ultimately by a succession of powerful shoguns. This resulted in the flowering of Kyoto as the artistic and religious center it remains today.

Almost every aspect of what we now consider Japanese culture and civilization was nurtured during Kyoto's period as capital. The artistic range and religious depth of the city and its surrounds are awe-inspiring, ranging from perhaps the greatest collection of ancient Japanese art and artifacts to some of the most magnificent temples and shrines anywhere in the country.

The wealth of Kyoto is perhaps best expressed by Ginkaku-ji (Silver Temple) and Kinkaku-ji (Golden Temple), both originally built in the late fourteenth century as private residences for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third shogun of the Muromachi bakufu (military government). Kinkaku-ji is particularly spectacular, representing three distinct architectural styles: Heian period (first floor), Kamakura period (second floor), and Chinese karayo (third floor), all gilded and reflected in a neighboring lake.

The religious aspects of Kyoto and its characteristic tranquillity are typified by the many gardens throughout the city, ranging from the iris gardens at Heian Shrine to the cherry blossoms at Daigo-ji or the Zen rock garden at Nanzen-ji. One of the earliest temples to be built after Kyoto became the capital was Kiyomizu-dera (798), which offers a breathtaking view over the city from a wooden verandah that seems magically to hang in midair over precipitous wooded hillsides. The verandah appears to ignore the law of gravity, and its construction gave birth to the Japanese phrase which means to participate in any dangerous act, but literally translates "to jump from the Kiyomizu-dera verandah."

Kyoto's imperial history may best be represented by Nijo Castle, originally built by the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603, but the site from where Emperor Meiji issued an edict abolishing the shogunate in 1868, heralding Japan's emergence as a budding Western-style democracy and sounding the death knell of isolationism and feudalism.

Almost everywhere one turns in Kyoto, history is tangibly present. What shouldn't be forgotten, however, is how the city came to be chosen as the capital of Japan. As mentioned before, the ancient Japanese superstitions about the siting of a city, particularly an imperial city, could only be assuaged by the careful following of the strictures of geomancy, what the Chinese call fengshui, wherein the quality of the surrounding air is taken into account and balanced with the auspicious configuration of nearby hills and streams. This careful siting resulted not only in Kyoto remaining the capital for over one thousand years, but in the beautiful and peaceful surroundings that the city enjoys even now at the end of the twentieth century.

This massive paper lantern at Gyoganji is typical of those seen in temples throughout Japan. The rope hanging behind the lantern is pulled to ring a bell when prayers are offered.