History of Kyoto

As we walk along Kinoshitacho Street, let’s take a moment to step back in time and look at the story of Japan’s former capital. Kyoto was founded in 794 under the name Heian-kyō, meaning “Capital of Peace,” by Emperor Kanmu, and it remained the imperial capital for more than a thousand years, until 1868. The city was laid out on a grid inspired by ancient Chinese capitals, with broad avenues and a central palace, designed to create an orderly and harmonious urban space. Kyoto reached its cultural high point during the Heian period, from the 8th to the 12th centuries, when Japan began shaping a culture that was truly its own. Until then, there was no native writing system; official texts were written in classical Chinese, mainly by men at court. Over time, a simpler phonetic script called hiragana developed from Chinese characters, making it easier to write the spoken language. It was widely used by women, who generally did not study classical Chinese and instead wrote in Japanese. During this period, The Tale of Genji was written by Murasaki Shikibu, a court lady who composed it in hiragana; it is often described as the world’s first novel, with its subtle focus on emotions, relationships, and court life. Around the same time, Yamato-e painting emerged, depicting landscapes, the changing seasons, and scenes from daily life. This was a turning point, when Japan began defining its own literature, visual arts, and written language. From the late 12th century onward, political power gradually shifted away from Kyoto. A military government, the shogunate, was established in Kamakura. The emperor remained in Kyoto, but real authority was now in the hands of military leaders. Even so, the city continued to serve as the cultural and spiritual heart of the country. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, Kyoto experienced remarkable artistic growth. Zen Buddhism flourished and inspired the creation of dry landscape gardens, known as karesansui, where carefully placed stones and raked gravel suggest entire mountains and rivers. The tea ceremony also took shape during this time, becoming a refined cultural practice. Major landmarks date from these centuries, including Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, and Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion. This flourishing period was violently disrupted by the Ōnin War, fought from 1467 to 1477 between the rival Hosokawa and Yamana samurai clans. The conflict devastated Kyoto, destroying temples, palaces, and neighborhoods, and ushered in the Sengoku period, the Age of Warring States. Stability gradually returned with the rise of powerful warlords who unified the country: first Oda Nobunaga, then Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and finally Tokugawa Ieyasu, who secured victory in 1600 and established the Tokugawa shogunate. This marked the beginning of more than 250 years of relative peace, during which Japan remained largely closed to the outside world. In the mid-19th century, pressure from the United States forced Japan to open its ports, weakening the shogunate and fueling internal unrest. In 1868, the Meiji Restoration restored political power to the emperor and launched a period of rapid modernization, as Japan worked to strengthen itself and avoid colonization. Remarkably, Kyoto was spared the bombing raids of the Second World War because of its immense cultural value. As a result, it remains the only major Japanese city to have preserved so much of its traditional architecture. Today, with more than two thousand temples and shrines, including seventeen UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Kyoto stands as a living record of over a thousand years of Japanese history and culture.