Description: Kyoto was the capital of Japan for a period of over 1,000 years. In 784, Emperor Kanmu moved the capital from Heijo-kyo in present day Nara to Nagaoka-kyo in Kyoto. He moved the capital again in 794 to Heian-kyo, which was built in the center of present-day Kyoto City. The city measured approximately 5.3km from east to west. It was constructed in a grid-like pattern, resembling a go board. The Emperors who succeeded Emperor Kanmu held court at the Imperial Palace in Heian-kyo, which served as both a political and cultural center. The Imperial Palace was situated in a fixed place, called a dairi, which was rebuilt every time it was destroyed by fire. While the Imperial Palace was being rebuilt, it was customary for the Emperor to move temporarily to the residences of members of the aristocracy. Later on, this custom came to be called sato-dairi. In the late Heian period, the dairi was not frequently used and the sato-dairi came to be used as the de facto Imperial Palace. During this period, the dairi was destroyed time after time by fire and warfare. It eventually fell into utter ruin, never to be rebuilt again.
The present Kyoto Imperial Palace is one of the sato-dairi palaces and came to be used often around the time when the Heian-period dairi was destroyed. From 1331, when Emperor Kogon was enthroned, and until the capital was moved to Tokyo in 1869, this sato-dairi served as the Imperial Palace. Over this period, the Imperial Palace was often destroyed by fire and then reconstructed. When it was rebuilt, having been burned down in 1788, the Shishinden and other major structures in the Palace compound were rebuilt in the traditional Heian style. In 1854, when the Palace burned down again, the Tokugawa Shogunate ordered that an Imperial Palace identical to its predecessor be immediately rebuilt, and the work was completed with exceptional speed by the following year. This is the Palace that still stands today.
The Kyoto Imperial Palace, which is surrounded by tsuijibet, or earthen walls with coping tiles, extends approximately450m from north to south and 250m from east to west. It encompasses a total area of approximately 110,000 square meters (approximately 27 acres).
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