Kyoto

The city of Kyoto boasts well over 1,000 years of history as a commercial, religious and artistic center. As a thriving metropolis developed over centuries, Kyoto has acquired a rich cultural heritage derived from its citizenry of enterprising artisans, entertainers, merchants and shopkeepers, just as much as from the city's more famous emperors, warriors, poets and priests. Much of Japan's culture has its beginnings in the city's economic and aesthetic initiatives and achievements over the ages. Kyoto has, over time, inspired great beauty and spirituality as well as violence and destruction.

Founded in 794, after the capital first moved from Nara and then to Nagaoka, Kyoto's river basin location, surrounded on all but its southern side by forested mountains, was deemed both propitious and strategic. A grand capital, Heian-kyo (Capital of Peace and Tranquility), was constructed on a rectilinear gridiron pattern modeled on the Chinese capital, Xian. This early attempt at urban planning can still be seen in street patterns to this day. However, little remains from the glorious Heian Period (794-1185) when Japanese culture first began to flower after its previous seeding from China and Korea. The sites of Shimogamo and Kamigamo shrines as well as Koryuji actually predate the founding of the capital but Byodoin in Uji, dating from 1053, and Shimo Daigo are two of the few structures in the city that managed to survive from the Heian Period unscathed by Kyoto's twin curses--fire and war.

The Heian era in Kyoto is associated with aristocratic and courtly elegance, art and poetry, literature and religious learning. Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji, the world's first novel, and The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagun are enduring literary masterpieces of the period. Nison-in still commemorates the Heian literary heritage in its annual festival. The Tendai and Shingon sects of early Buddhism have their roots here, too. Tendai has its headquarters at Enryakuji on Mount Hiei and Toji Temple is an important Shingon establishment. Heian Shrine is a scaled-down replica of the original Imperial Palace, and Kyoto National Museum houses many artworks and sculptures from the period.

The intervening Kamakura (1185-1333), Muromachi (1333-1573) and Momoyama (1573-1598) Periods are referred to as Japan's medieval age. They were a time of both calamitous destruction as well as stunning cultural achievement and growth. During the upheavals of the Kamakura Period, which included the aborted invasions of the Mongols in 1274 and 1281, the differing Buddhist sects of Zen, Jodo, Jodo Shin and Nichiren made their appearance. Kenninji was the first of Kyoto's many influential Zen Buddhist temples, which include Nanzenji, Myoshinji and Daitokuji. Chion-in, with its massive gate, is the headquarters of the Jodo sect and dates from 1234. Nishi Honganji founded later, in 1272, is now the center of the vast and prosperous Jodo Shin sect.

The Muromachi Period began with Kyoto under the control of the Ashikaga shogunate. It represents a further high point in Kyoto's cultural patronage and aesthetic achievement. The beautiful and lavish Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji, pictured above), the more contemplative Silver Pavilion (Ginkakuji), as well as many of Kyoto's most famous arts, such as ikebana flower arrangement, Noh drama, tea ceremony and landscaped gardens, including the exquisite Daisen-in, date from this time. Unfortunately, the end of this epoch saw the destruction of much of the city in the disastrous Onin War (1467-1477).