Kyoto

/kee oh"toh/; Japn. /kyaw"taw/, n.

a city on S Honshu, in central Japan: the capital of Japan A.D. 794-1868. 1,472,993.

Also, Kioto.

* * *

City (pop., 2000 prelim.: 1,467,705), west-central Honshu, Japan.

It is situated northeast of Ōsaka. The centre of Japanese culture and Japanese Buddhism, Kyōto ("Capital City") was the capital of Japan and the site of the imperial family residence for more than 1,000 years (794–1868). The modern city has theatres that present nō theatre and kabuki. Many small workshops produce textiles and porcelain. Buddhist temples and Shintō shrines are found throughout the city and surrounding area. Part of an industrial area, it is also a manufacturing centre. Its educational institutions include Kyōto University (founded 1897) and Dōshisha University (1875).

* * *

▪ Japan

Introduction

 city, seat of fu (Kyōto) (urban prefecture), west-central Honshu island, Japan. It is located some 30 miles (50 km) northeast of the industrial city of Ōsaka (Ōsaka-Kōbe metropolitan area) and about the same distance from Nara, another ancient centre of Japanese culture. Gently sloping downward from north to south, the city averages 180 feet (55 metres) above sea level. Kyōto fu is at the centre of chihō (Kinki) (region). The city is one of the centres (with nearby Ōsaka and Kōbe (Ōsaka-Kōbe metropolitan area)) of the Keihanshin Industrial Zone, the second largest urban and industrial agglomeration in Japan.

The capital of Japan for more than 1,000 years (from 794 to 1868), Kyōto (literally, “Capital City”) has been called a variety of names through the centuries—Heian-kyō (“Capital of Peace and Tranquillity”), Miyako (“The Capital”), and Saikyō (“Western Capital”), its name after the Meiji Restoration (1868) when the imperial household moved to Tokyo. The contemporary phrase sekai no Kyōto (“the world's Kyōto”) reflects the reception of Japanese culture abroad and Kyōto's own attempt to keep up with the times. Nevertheless, Kyōto is the centre of traditional Japanese culture and of Buddhism, as well as of fine textiles and other Japanese products. The deep feeling of the Japanese people for their culture and heritage is represented in their special relationship with Kyōto—all Japanese try to go there at least once in their lives, with almost a third of the country's population visiting the city annually. Several of the historic temples and gardens of Kyōto were collectively added as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994. Area 320 square miles (828 square km). Pop. (2005) 1,472,511.

Physical and human geography

The landscape

The city site

      Designated the site of a new capital by the emperor Kammu, Kyōto was laid out in 794 on the model of Chang'an (modern Xi'an), the capital of China's Tang dynasty. The plan called for a rectangular enclosure with a grid street pattern, 3.2 miles north to south and 2.8 miles east to west. The Imperial Palace, surrounded by government buildings, was in the city's north-central section. Following Chinese precedent, care was taken when the site was selected to protect the northern corners, from which, it was believed, evil spirits could gain access. Thus, Hiei-zan (Mt. Hiei; 2,782 feet) to the northeast and Atago-yama (Mt. Atago; 3,031 feet) to the northwest were considered natural guardians. Hiei-zan especially came to figure prominently between the 11th and 16th centuries, when warrior-monks from its Tendai Buddhist monastery complex frequently raided the city and influenced politics. The Kamo and Katsura rivers—before joining the Yodo-gawa ( Yodo River) to the south—were, respectively, the original eastern and western boundaries. But the attraction of the eastern hills kept the city from filling out to its original western border until after World War II. Kyōto is actually cradled in a saucer of hills on three sides that opens to the southwest toward Ōsaka.

Climate

      Kyōto is most beautiful in spring and fall. The rainy season (June–July) lasts three to four weeks; summers are hot and humid. Winter brings two or three light snows and a penetrating “chilling from below” (sokobie). The yearly mean temperature of Kyōto is about 59° F (15° C); the highest monthly mean, 80° F (27° C), is in August, and the lowest, 38° F (3° C), is in January. The average yearly rainfall is about 62 inches (1,574 millimetres).

The city layout

      The original grid pattern of the streets has been retained. Numbered avenues run east and west, Shijō-dōri (“Fourth Street”) being the busiest. Karasuma-dōri, running north from the Japanese National Railways station, divides the city roughly into halves. Under it is one of the two lines of the municipal subway. The other, newer line, completed in 1997, runs from the JR Nijō station in the west across the city to the east and then to Daigo, southeast of the city. Kyōto was the first city in Japan to have electric streetcars (starting in 1895), which eventually made it necessary to widen the major thoroughfares to allow for citywide service.

      The historic area of Kyōto has few large factories or businesses, a fact reflected in the look of the inner city—shops and workshops, residences, and offices all standing side by side. Stringent building codes limit the height of buildings in order to preserve the overall look of the historic city. Characteristic of the architecture are tiled roofs and wood weathered to dark brown, but telephone poles (now made of concrete) and a forest of television antennas protrude at every turn. A typical Kyōto house presents a narrow and low front to the street, but as it recedes it gains in height and embellishment—all this a reflection of its past history and character: wariness of the marauding monk, the zealous revenue collector, or the curious neighbour. Rarely does one enter a home beyond the front vestibule; if one is invited in, it is good form to demur.

      Because of earthquakes and conflagrations, the attacks of monks from Mount Hiei, and the Ōnin War (1467–77), which utterly destroyed the city, little of Kyōto's historical architecture predates the 17th century. Replacements and renovations, of course, followed previous plans, but the single shining example of Heian-period architecture remaining is the soaring Hōō-dō (“Phoenix Hall”) of the Byōdō-in (Byōdō Temple), located a few miles southeast of the city on the banks of Uji River (Uji-gawa).

   Buddhist temples and Shintō shrines abound. Their grounds and those of the Kyōto Imperial Palace (Kyōto Gosho) and Nijō Castle (Nijō-jo) give Kyōto more green areas than most Japanese cities. Kyōto claims some 1,660 Buddhist temples, more than 400 Shintō shrines, and even some 90 Christian churches. Major Buddhist institutions include East Hongan Temple (Higashi Hongan-ji) and West Hongan Temple (Nishi Hongan-ji ), the former with the world's largest wooden roof of its kind and the latter containing some of the best examples of architectural and artistic expression of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1574–1600); Ryōan Temple (Ryōan-ji), with its famous rock-and-sand garden; Tenryū Temple (Tenryū-ji), in the Arashiyama district to the west; Kiyomizu Temple (Kiyomizu-dera), built on stilts on the side of the eastern hills; and Kinkaku Temple (Kinkaku-ji), the Golden Pavilion, burned down by a deranged student in 1950 but rebuilt exactly, and Ginkaku Temple (Ginkaku-ji), the Silver Pavilion, both of which were products of the Ashikaga shoguns' attraction to Zen. The great Shintō shrines are Kitano, Yasaka, and Heian, the last built in 1894 to commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of Kyōto's founding.

      The buildings of the Kyōto Imperial Palace, originally located farther west, date from 1855 and are re-creations, in the same monumental Japanese style, of earlier structures that were destroyed by fire. Nijō-jo, built by the Tokugawa shogunate, is a “token” castle, but it contains many cultural treasures; it is known for its “chirping floors” (to signal the approach of an intruder) and elaborate wall paintings of the Kanō school. The two foremost examples of traditional Japanese landscape architecture are the Katsura Detached Palace (Katsura Rikyū) in the southwest corner of the city and the Shūgakuin Rikyū set in the northeast hills. Katsura underwent a complete renovation using perfectly matched modern materials; its buildings are models of Japanese architectural aesthetic expression. Shūgakuin contains three gardens, the third with an artificial lake. From there one can view the entire expanse of the city stretching out to the south.

The people

      Kyōto is one of the largest cities in Japan. Its population—which includes a sizable foreign community comprising mainly Koreans (many brought there forcibly during World War II), Chinese, and Americans—has remained relatively stable for a number of years. Most of the city's residents live in the central districts, but increasingly people are moving to outlying and suburban areas.

      A major item remaining on the municipal agenda has been how to assimilate the thousands of burakumin, the historical outcaste group, who live in segregated communities in the city. This has been a continuing social problem largely in the older urban areas of western Japan, particularly Kyōto, Ōsaka, and Kōbe. Despite the fact that the last discriminatory legal bars were removed in 1969, social and occupational progress has lagged.

The economy

Industry

      Kyōto is a city of thousands of medium and small industries, many of them family owned and operated. Traditional handicrafts abound, and their manufacture for the tourist trade is an important element of Kyōto's economic life. The central part of the city is crowded with small workshops, which produce such typical Japanese goods as fans, dolls, Buddhist altar fittings, and lacquer ware. Antipollution measures have forced the once-thriving Kiyomizu pottery kilns to move to nearby Yamashina.

      For centuries silk weaving, centred in the north-central Nishijin district, has been one of Kyōto's major industries. Along with the geisha and entertainment sector, the fine textiles, delicate fabrics, and embroidery represent a continuity of Kyōto's traditional role as the centre of Japanese culture. In addition, the Fushimi district in southern Kyōto, favoured with excellent water, produces some of Japan's finest sake. Also located in southern Kyōto are several industries established after World War II that produce industrial ceramics, women's garments, and medical instruments. Since the early 1980s, companies such as Kyocera Corporation (originally Kyōto Ceramics Co., Ltd.) have put Kyōto in the forefront of such high-technology industries as electronics, robotics, and computers. Throughout the 1990s and into the early 21st century, however, the city, like the rest of Japan, struggled with economic recession.

Commerce

      Kyōto is mainly a consumer city. It is the national centre of silk and fine textile wholesaling, but its main commercial activity is retail trade. The Gion and Pontocho districts, famed for their geisha and maiko (apprentice geisha), offer a variety of traditional and foreign food and drink. During the summer, yuka (platforms on stilts) are set up on the banks of the Kamo River in the heart of town, and strolling troubadours pass below as a reminder of how Kabuki theatre originated. Traditional Japanese inns (ryōkan) abound, and many Western-style hotels cater to the wedding, tourist, and convention trades. A large conference centre near the foot of Mount Hiei hosts major industrial exhibitions and international conferences.

Transportation

      Most of Japan's east–west traffic must come through Kyōto. During the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) the city was the western terminus of the Tōkaidō, the road that connected Kyōto to Edo (now Tokyo) (Tokyo-Yokohama Metropolitan Area). River traffic to Ōsaka favoured the Yodo. Today the numerous high-speed bullet trains of the Shinkansen give reliable service to major cities east and west. Interurban lines between Kyōto and Ōsaka–Kōbe and Nara provide fast and frequent local service. Kyōto itself finally abandoned streetcars in the 1970s. The Meishin Expressway links Kyōto to Ōsaka and Nagoya.

Administration and social conditions

Government

      Kyōto urban prefecture, which extends to the Sea of Japan, is under the administration of an elected governor, while the city is administered by an elected mayor and city council.

Education

      Kyōto was traditionally organized into extended neighbourhoods, called machi, and after the Meiji Restoration these were designated as the administrative units for general public education; in this way, the city preceded the national effort to systematize primary education. Kyōto is surpassed only by Tokyo in its number of institutions of higher learning, but it claims several more Nobel Prize laureates than Tokyo, a point it reminds the latter of from time to time. The city's relatively calm atmosphere, its distance from the hurly-burly of national government, and its numerous cultural and religious institutions and facilities are cited as prime reasons for its educational advantages. There are more than 40 two-year and four-year colleges and universities with a total annual enrollment of more than 100,000 students. The state-run Kyōto University, established in 1897, is the second most prestigious school in the country. Dōshisha University, the leading private educational institution, was founded in 1875 by Niijima Jō (also called Joseph Hardy Neesima), who was the first Japanese to graduate from a Western college (Amherst College in 1870). Major Buddhist universities include Ryūkoku, Ōtani, and the smaller Hanazano.

Cultural life

      During the millennium that Kyōto served as the nation's capital and residence of the imperial family, it became the preserver of the Japanese “spirit.” This is exemplified in its varied and unique cultural institutions: the schools of tea ceremony (cha-no-yu) and flower arranging (ikebana); the theatrical arts of Noh, Kabuki, and traditional dance; or the masterpieces of calligraphy, painting, sculpture, and architecture that can be found everywhere in the city. Kyōto is the repository of hundreds of designated “national treasures” and “important cultural objects,” representing a significant proportion of the national total. Included among these are individuals who have been named “living national treasures” (ningen kokuhō) in recognition of their superior skills in the traditional arts and crafts.

      Most of the important works of art are housed in Kyōto's temples and shrines, many of which are themselves listed as national treasures. Even institutions that do not normally display their collections periodically have public showings at which their treasures can be viewed. Kyōto also has numerous museums, including Kyōto National Museum (founded 1889), containing national treasures; Kyōto Municipal Museum of Art (1933); and Kyōto Municipal Traditional Crafts Centre (1976).

      The birthplace of traditional Japanese drama, Kyōto maintains an active theatrical life. Several Noh stages offer frequent performances, and the annual opening performance (kaomise) at the Minami Theatre is the customary inauguration of the national Kabuki season. A traditional form of humorous pantomime, Mibu kyōgen, is performed faithfully by troupes of amateurs.

      The three major festivals (matsuri)—Aoi in May, Gion in July, and Jidai in October—are almost national events. The Jidai-matsuri (“Festival of the Ages”) is a parade depicting, in period costume, Japan's entire history. The Gion-matsuri dates from the 9th century and features more than 30 elaborate, carefully preserved, hand-drawn floats, some decorated with French Gobelin tapestries imported through Nagasaki during Tokugawa times. The northern hills—Mount Hiei with its scenic drive and the Takao district for its fall foliage—are famed for their well-tended stands of Japanese cedar (sugi).

Otis Cary

History

      Kyōto as the national capital dates from 794, although the area was settled earlier by Korean immigrants who brought with them the skills of sericulture and silk weaving. As noted above, the planned city was between the Katsura and Kamo rivers, but it soon extended beyond the eastern banks of the Kamo. The powerful Fujiwara family dominated the Heian period. Excessive Buddhist influence at the old capital of Nara had occasioned the removal of the government to Nagaoka and then to Kyōto, where the building of Buddhist temples was proscribed. As an exception, Rashōmon, the great southern gateway, was flanked by Tō-ji on the east and Sai-ji on the west; Sai-ji was short-lived, but the handsome, five-tiered pagoda of Tō-ji is a classic landmark.

      Following the decline of the Fujiwara and the ascendance of the Minamoto in the late 12th century, political and military leadership was vested in a shogun (“generalissimo”), the first of whom, Minamoto Yoritomo, chose to administer the expanding domains from Kamakura to the east. It was during the Kamakura period (1192–1333) that many of the Buddhist temples were established, and indigenous sects of Buddhism, together with Zen from the continent, appeared. During the ensuing Muromachi period (1338–1573), the Ashikaga shogunate moved the government back to Kyōto. The aristocratic culture of the Heian (Heian period) era blended with the culture of Zen that had developed under the samurai (warriors), resulting in the refinement of the Nō theatre, the tea ceremony and flower arranging, and pottery making.

      By the mid-16th century, however, the city had been so devastated that St. Francis Xavier, on a pilgrimage to Kyōto, could not even locate the Imperial court, much less seek an Imperial audience. The city's fortunes revived under the regimes of the national unifiers Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Buddhists, especially the Tendai monks on Hiei-zan, were such an anathema to Nobunaga that he set fire to the entire monastery complex; but under Hideyoshi, an ardent patron of the arts, Kyōto flourished. One of his tea parties was attended by thousands of people and went on for days.

      With the ascendance of the Tokugawa shogunate at the beginning of the 17th century, the political centre again moved, this time to Edo (modern Tokyo). The Imperial court was left to pursue its ceremonial functions, and access to it was carefully monitored. Only after the arrival of Matthew Perry in 1853 and the collapse of the Tokugawa did Kyōto again come to the fore. At the Nijō-jo in 1867 the last Tokugawa shogun finally turned back to the Imperial court his mandate to rule the nation, marking the first time in more than 200 years that a ruling Tokugawa had set foot in Kyōto.

      Shortly after the proclamation of the Meiji Restoration, however, the young Meiji emperor took up residence in the new capital, Tokyo—a move that has not been forgotten in Kyōto. Kyōto busied itself in outbidding Ōsaka to become in 1872 the site of an annual exhibition that was held for more than 30 years. During World War II U.S. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, recalling his visits to Kyōto, struck the city from the list of targets for aerial bombing. Its cultural treasures intact, it maintains a special place in the hearts of the Japanese and, increasingly, in the eyes of the world.

Additional Reading

On the history of Kyōto, see John Whitney Hall, Japan from Prehistory to Modern Times (1970); Edwin O. Reischauer and John K. Fairbank, East Asia: The Great Tradition (1960); John K. Fairbank, Edwin O. Reischauer, and Albert M. Craig, East Asia: The Modern Transformation (1965); and Edwin Bayrd, Kyoto (1974). Descriptive works include Gouverneur Mosher, Kyoto: A Contemplative Guide (1964, reprinted 1978); Donald Keene, Landscapes and Portraits: Appreciations of Japanese Culture (1971, reissued as Appreciations of Japanese Culture, 1981); Yoshikazu Izumoji, Kyoto, 34th ed. (1983; originally published in Japanese, 1963); and Tadashi Ishikawa, Palaces of Kyoto (1968; originally published in Japanese, 1962), and Imperial Villas of Kyoto (1970). Otis Cary, Mr. Stimson's “Pet City”: The Sparing of Kyoto, 1945 (1975), details Kyōto's survival during World War II. On social life and customs, see Ruth L. Gaines, City-Royal: A Memory of Kyōto (1953). Herbert E. Plutschow, Introducing Kyoto (1979), is a good guidebook.Otis Cary

▪ prefecture, Japan

      fu (urban prefecture), Honshu, Japan, bounded by the ken (prefectures) of Fukui and Shiga (east), Nara (south), and Hyōgo (northwest), the fu of Ōsaka (southwest), and the Sea of Japan (north). Much of it is composed of the Tamba Mountains, which are sometimes considered to be the eastern extension of the Chūgoku Range. From 1874 until World War II, Kyōto was the prefecture with the largest industrial production (especially of textiles) in Japan. Tokyo was ninth. Kyōto later became a part of the Kinki Industrial Zone. The prefectural headquarters are located in the former national capital of Kyōto. Other important cities include Uji, Fukuchiyama, and Maizuru. Area 1,781 square miles (4,613 square km). Pop. (1990) 2,602,520.

* * *