KYOTO

The upper levels of the pagoda at Yasaka Shrine standing out against the skyline of Kyoto, city, seat of Kyoto fu (urban prefecture), west-central Honshu island, Japan. It is located some 30 miles (48 kilometres) northeast of the industrial city of Osaka 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, and it covers an area of about 236 square miles (611 square kilometres). Kyoto fu is at the centre of the Kinki chiho (Kinki region). The city is also one of the centres (with nearby Osaka and Kobe) 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), Kyoto (literally, Capital City) has been called a variety of names through the centuriesHeian-kyo (Capital of Peace and Tranquillity), Miyako (The Capital), and Saikyo (Western Capital), its name after the Meiji Restoration (1868) when the Imperial Household moved to Tokyo. The contemporary phrase sekai no Kyoto (the world's Kyoto) reflects the reception of Japanese culture abroad and Kyoto's own attempt to keep up with the times. Nevertheless, Kyoto 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 Kyotoall 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 Kyoto were collectively added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1994. fu (urban prefecture), Honshu, Japan, bounded by the ken (prefectures) of Fukui and Shiga (east), Nara (south), and Hyogo (northwest), the fu of Osaka (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 Chugoku Range. From 1874 until World War II, Kyoto was the prefecture with the largest industrial production (especially of textiles) in Japan. Tokyo was ninth. Kyoto later became a part of the Kinki Industrial Zone. The prefectural headquarters are located in the former national capital of Kyoto. Other important cities include Uji, Fukuchiyama, and Maizuru. Area 1,781 square miles (4,613 square km). Pop. (1990) 2,602,520. city, seat of Kyoto fu (urban prefecture), west-central Honshu Island, Japan. The city, located about 29 miles (47 km) to the northeast of Osaka, is the principal centre of Japanese culture and of Buddhism in Japan. For more than 1,000 yearsfrom 794 to 1868Kyoto (Capital City) was the capital of Japan and the place of residence of the imperial family. Kyoto is situated in the northern part of the great Kyoto (Yamashiro) fault basin and is surrounded on three sides by low mountains. Several streams, such as the Kamo and the Katsura, flow down from the mountains through the city to join the Yodo River to the south. Kyoto's climate is typical of inland Japan; it is hot in summer and cold in winter, with the annual rainfall of approximately 62 inches (1,575 mm) occurring mainly in summer. The centre of the present city has moved northeastward since its earliest days. Most of the old city consists of small stores, workshops, and residences, all standing side by side. Buddhist temples (such as Higashi Hongan Temple and To Temple, with its famed five-story pagoda) and Shinto shrines (such as Heian Shrine and Yasaka Shrine) are found everywhere in the city and its surrounding hills. Although the city is divided into 11 wards (ku), Kyoto in popular usage consists of five districts: central Rakuchu, eastern Rakuto, northern Rakuhoku, western Rakusei, and southern Rakunan. Kyoto is one of Japan's traditional centres for education and for training in the arts and sciences. Of the many national and private institutions of higher learning, some, such as Kyoto University (1897; formerly Kyoto Imperial University), are preeminent. The city is also the site of Doshisha University (1875), a centre of Christian higher education, and several Buddhist universities. Kyoto abounds with historical and cultural treasures, including architecture, paintings, carvings, fine examples of calligraphy, and gardens. Important cultural institutions include the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art and the Kyoto National Museum (1889). Virtually every Buddhist temple has its own museum of Buddhist antiquities. Kyoto also has no and kabuki theatres, and it is a centre for the tea ceremony and for flower arrangement. The old Kyoto Imperial Palace is one of the most representative examples of traditional Japanese architecture, and Nijo Castle (1603) is the most famous castle of the Tokugawa period (16031867). Kyoto's treasures and seasonal events draw millions of tourists to the city each year. Most factories in Kyoto are small workshops, and the manufacture of traditional products overshadows machine and chemical industries. Most important are the manufacture of textiles (mainly silk), foods and drinks, porcelain ware, and traditional Japanese objects. Kyoto is the national centre for wholesale trade in textiles and is a banking and corporate headquarters. Railways and expressways link Kyoto with other cities. Area city, 236 square miles (610 square km). Pop. (1990) city, 1,461,103; (1995 prelim.) city, 1,463,601. Additional reading On the history of Kyoto, 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 Kyoto's survival during World War II. On social life and customs, see Ruth L. Gaines, City-Royal: A Memory of Kyoto (1953). Herbert E. Plutschow, Introducing Kyoto (1979), is a good guidebook. Otis Cary History Kyoto 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 Kyoto, where the building of Buddhist temples was proscribed. As an exception, Rashomon, the great southern gateway, was flanked by To-ji on the east and Sai-ji on the west; Sai-ji was short-lived, but the handsome, five-tiered pagoda of To-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 (11921333) 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 (13381573), the Ashikaga shogunate moved the government back to Kyoto. The aristocratic culture of the Heian era blended with the culture of Zen that had developed under the samurai (warriors), resulting in the refinement of the No 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 Kyoto, 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, Kyoto 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 Kyoto again come to the fore. At the Nijo-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 Ky oto. Shortly after the proclamation of the Meiji Restoration, however, the young Meiji emperor took up residence in the new capital, Tokyoa move that has not been forgotten in Kyoto. Kyoto busied itself in outbidding Osaka 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 Kyoto, 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.