Kyoto (Japanese: 京都 ) is a Japanese city in the Kansai region
on the main island of Honshu. It is also the capital of the
Kyoto prefecture. The city, with its approximately 1.4 million
inhabitants, was the capital and imperial seat of Japan for over
a thousand years before it was replaced by Edo, today's Tokyo.
The valley basin in which it lies was settled in the 7th
century. The settlement at the time, called Heian-Kyo, became
the capital of Japan in 794, replacing Nara. From then until
1868, this was the seat of power of the Japanese emperor. It was
not until the beginning of the Meijin Restoration in 1867 that
the emperor moved to Edo, today's Tokyo.
As a result,
Kyoto was the cultural center of the country for a very long
time, which was also reflected in numerous buildings. In Kyoto
there are over 3,000 temples and shrines, dozens of gardens and
museums, and no fewer than three palace complexes. The city is
quite easy to navigate due to its checkerboard-like streets.
Kyoto has around 3,000 temples and shrines. These include some main
temples and shrines. In addition, some important buildings from the
capital's time, such as the Imperial Palace, have been preserved. There
are also many museums. There are also some modern buildings worth
seeing.
It should be clear that this is only a selection. More
detailed information can be found in some of the city district articles.
In 1994, a total of 17 monuments were added to the UNESCO World
Heritage List. These buildings are not all located in the city of Kyoto
itself, but also in the surrounding area. In detail they are:
1
Kamigamo-jinja Shinto Shrine Kita-ku
2 Shimogamo-jinja Shinto Shrine
Sakyō-ku
3 Tō-ji, Kyō-ō-Gokoku-ji Temple, Shingon Minami-ku
4
Kiyomizu-dera Temple Higashiyama
5 Enryaku-ji Temple, Tendai Otsu
(City)
6 Daigo-ji Temple, Shingon Fushimi-ku
7 Ninna-ji Temple,
Shingon Ukyō-ku
8 Byōdō-in Temple Uji (City)
9 Ujigami-jinja
Temple Uji (City)
10 Kōzan-ji Temple, Shingon Ukyō-ku
11 Saihō-ji
Temple, Rinzai-Zen Nishikyō-ku
12 Tenryū-ji Temple, Tenryū Rinzai Zen
Ukyō-ku
13 Kinkaku-ji Temple, Rinzai-Zen Kita-ku
14 Ginkaku-ji
Temple Sakyō-ku
15 Ryōan-ji Temple, Myōshinji-Rinzai-Zen Ukyō-ku
16 Nishi-Hongan-ji Temple, Jodo Shinshu Shimogyō-ku
Nijō Castle
Nakagyō-ku
The World Heritage List of "Historic Kyoto" includes the most
interesting and important temples and shrines. Therefore, here is just a
small addition, further details in the articles on the individual
districts.
17 Sanjūsan-gen-dō in Kyōto/Higashiyama
18
Daitoku-ji in Kyōto/Kita-ku
19 Tōfuku-ji in Kyōto/Higashiyama
20
Inari Shrine in Kyōto/Fushimi-ku
The Imperial Palace in the Kamigyō-ku district
Fushimi Castle in
the Fushimi-ku district
Shugaku-in Rikyu, the Imperial Villa in the
Sakyō-ku district, with the permission of Kunaicho
The modern main train station and the 6 Kyōto Tower located right next to it are certainly two of the most worth seeing modern buildings in Kyoto. The observation deck at the top of the Kyoto Tower offers a great panoramic view of Kyoto!
Korkuritsu Hakubutsukan (Kyoto National Museum)
Kyoto National
Railway Museum in the Shimogyō-ku district
International Manga
Museum. The museum also shows German-language manga.
Kyoto Museum
Sake Museum of the Gekkeikan Sake Brewery in the Fushimi-ku district
The drying garden of the Ryoanji Temple (Zen) is a world cultural heritage site.
Kyoto is said to be the city of a hundred festivals, which is not
entirely true, as there are more than a hundred matsuri every year, so
there is usually a festival going on somewhere. The most important ones,
which also attract a large number of domestic tourists and are therefore
a reason to reserve your hotel in good time in addition to the normal
Japanese holidays, are:
February 2nd or 3rd Setsubun Matsuri
(last day of winter according to the lunar calendar)
March and
December Hanatōro (the festival of lanterns) takes place at the
beginning of the year in the Higashiyama district and at the end of the
year in the Arashiyama district
May 15th Aoi Matturi (mallow
festival)
July 17th Gion Matsuri, probably the most famous
Japanese festival with floats
August 16th Daimon-ji Gozan Okuibi
at nightfall fires in the shape of characters are lit on five mountains
October 22nd Kurama-no-hi Matsuri (fire festival)
October
22nd Jidaiu Natsuri (epoch festival)
TIC. Tel.: +81 371 5649. The main office of the Tourist Information
Center for Kyoto and Kansai is on the 1st floor of the main station, at
the level of the entrance to the normal railway lines. It is specially
set up for foreign tourists, and some of the staff even speak German in
addition to English. Open: Mon - Fri 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sat 9 a.m. - 12
p.m., Sun closed.
Kyoto City Tourist Information Center, on the
2nd floor of the station. Although also open on Sundays, it is more
geared towards local visitors. Therefore, not everyone speaks English.
Open: daily 8:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Kyoto Handicraft Center, northwest
of Heian-jingu. Another point of contact is the Kyoto Handicraft Center.
Most city tours start here, and the center also has a tourist
information office (Japanese, some English).
By plane
The
nearest international airport is Kansai International Airport (IATA:
KIX), which can be reached in 75 minutes with the Haruka Airport
Express. For domestic flights, Osaka Itami Airport (IATA: ITM) is the
nearest airport, from which there are direct bus connections (approx. 55
minutes journey time).
By train
With the Shinkansen from
Tokyo, you can reach Kyoto in 2 hours 15 minutes, from Shin-Osaka in
less than a quarter of an hour. The subway is the fastest means of
transport to get to the hotel. However, as there are only a few lines,
you will have to rely on the bus or taxi for certain areas.
If
you choose to take a taxi, it is advisable not to get in directly at the
station. The allocation of taxis there is in "undemocratic" hands. The
taxi chain recommended by the residents of Kyoto, with a heart logo on
the roof, is not even "approved" in front of the station, for example.
The drivers of this organization are considered friendly towards
foreigners, have a basic knowledge of English and are prepared to
transport a large suitcase. So just walk a few meters to the street and
use a hand signal to flag down a "heart" taxi.
If you continue by
bus, there is a bus company pavilion in front of the north entrance to
the station where you can get a very helpful route map.
There are several private railway lines, some of which operate as
underground lines in the city. Two underground lines have been formed
from these.
The Karasuma Line (line color green) runs from the
north from Kokusai (K1) and then follows the Kamasuma-dori towards Kyoto
Station (K11), then forms the connection to the Kintetsu Kyoto Line at
Takaeda (K15).
The Tozai Line (line color orange-red) starts at
Rokujizu (T01) and then runs north via Daigo (T03) to Yamashina (T07),
where it connects with the Tzai Line of the Keihan Railway and turns
east and crosses the chain of hills to the Sanjo-Keihan (T11). The Sanjo
Station of the Keihan Main Line is located in the immediate vicinity. It
then passes under the Kamo River and connects to the Karasuma Line at
Karasuma-Oike Station (T13/K08). The Tozai Line connects to the San'in
Line at Nijo and ends in the east at the Uzumasa Tenjingawa station in
the Ukyō-ku district.
The stations are clearly marked in Japanese
and Latin script as well as with letters and numbers.
The city
also has a dense bus network. There is an English-language guide for the
most important bus lines at the larger sales points. This TIC brochure
Kyoto Transportation Guide is also recommended for non-English speakers.
There is a day ticket for combined metro and bus use.
Tourist
buses
On weekends, public holidays, O-Bon (mid-August) and around New
Year, express buses run that only stop at tourist attractions. They cost
¥ 500 instead of the normal ¥ 230 (as of June 2024).
EX100 JR
Kyoto Station – Gojo-zaka (near Kiyomizu-dera) – Gion – Heian Jingu –
Ginkaku-ji Silver Pavilion, every 20 minutes during the day
EX101 JR
Kyoto Station – Gojo-zaka direct, every 30 minutes during the day
The main shopping streets are in the Nakagyō-ku district on Shijo Street and the side streets, especially between Shijo Station and the Kamo River.
Kyoto is a major travel destination for the Japanese themselves, so
almost everyone will have traveled here during their school days.
Therefore, there is a large, wide range of accommodation options. The
website set up by the city offers an accommodation search function in
English.
The Tokyo Inn chain has three hotels in Kyoto that can
be booked via the hotel website.
Medium
Kyoto Royal Hotel &
Spa (京都ロイヤルホテル&スパ), Nakagyo-ku Kawaramachi Sanjo-Agaru (One block south
of Shiyakushomae subway station, on a side street). Tel.: +81
(0)752231234, E-Mail: yoyaku@kyoto-royal.co.jp . Centrally located,
beautiful and modern hotel. Rooms are small as usual. Price: double room
from 150€.
Upscale
The former headquarters of the video game
manufacturer Nintendo is also located in the Shimogyo district. The
relatively unspectacular building attracted a few interested fans almost
every day. 1 Marufukuro (丸福樓 (旧山内任天堂)), 342番地 Kagiyacho. Tel.:
+81753533355. It opened in 2022 as a hotel with 18 rooms (333-79m²). A
library on the upper floor contains a small exhibition about the
company. Check-in: 3:00 p.m. Check-out: 12:00 p.m. Price: ¥
100,000-250,000 for a double.
If you are visiting and your host offers the chazuke (茶漬け), which is popular throughout Japan, this is a regional euphemism for: “It’s time for you to go.”
Throughout its history, the city has been referred to in Japanese as Kyō (京?), Miyako (都?) or Kyō no Miyako (京の都?). In the 11th century, the city was renamed Kyoto (literally: 'capital city') influenced by the Chinese ideogram for Jīngdū (京都? , 'capital city'). After Edo was renamed Tokyo (in English: 'Eastern Capital'), Kyoto was known for a time as Saikyō (西京? , 'Western Capital'). There was also an obsolete way of calling the city: in the West it was formally known as Meaco or Miako (都 Miyako?), which meant 'Seat of the Imperial Palace' or 'Capital'. Another term commonly used to refer to the city in the pre-modern period was Keishi (京師?), translated as 'metropolis' or 'capital'.
Kyoto has its own flag and coat of arms. The city's flag came into
use on 1 January 1960. The design of the coat of arms is a miniature
version of the emblem of Kyoto, which was originally decided on 2
October 1891. It is surrounded by an arabesque interpretation of a wheel
from a court wagon. The emblem is depicted in gold and the wheel in
purple, symbolising the ancient capital.
As in many other
Japanese cities, a selection of flowers and trees also constitute the
symbol of the city. The representative trees are Salix babylonica
(weeping willow), Acer, and Cercidiphyllum japonicum (katsura), while
the flowers are the camellia, the azalea, and the cherry, the
quintessential Japanese flower. They were selected by the citizens of
Kyoto in 1972, as a means of promoting activities to care for and
protect nature.
Although archaeological evidence places the first human settlement on
the Japanese islands at approximately 10,000 BC, the Kyoto area was not
populated until the 7th century by the Hata clan. The Kamo Shrine (賀茂神社
, Kamo-jinja?) was founded in 678, being one of the few human
settlements that existed at that time in the region. The incipient city,
surrounded by mountains, was located in the central-western part of the
island of Honshu.
Kyoto, capital of Japan
At the end of the
8th century, Emperor Kanmu decided to build a new capital, abandoning
Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara), which had been the Japanese capital since
710. Historically, it has been held that the reasons for making this
move were due to the intention of freeing itself from the growing
influence of Buddhist monasteries on the imperial court of Nara. After
the Emperor and his court temporarily moved to Nagaoka-kyō, the new city
was built by imperial order in 793 by Fujiwara no Ogurimaru.
The
following year, it was decided to move the capital to the newly founded
city that would be located 50 km north of Nara. The city was called
Heian-kyō (平安京? , 'Capital of Tranquility'), a name that was also given
to its time, known as the Heian period. For the Japan of those times,
the construction of a city of this size was an ambitious decision, given
the backward conditions of the country and its still very small
population. The layout of its main streets following the model of a
chessboard still reflects the Chinese model of a city that existed a
thousand years ago. In turn, it would be established on a valley and
would be laid out in the form of a chessboard, imitating the Chinese
capital of the Tang dynasty: Chang'an. It had a rectangular area of
approximately 4.5 km from east to west and 5.2 km from north to south,
and had only the exception of the two temples at the south gate: Sai-ji
and Tō-ji - then the only two temples allowed.
The main palace
would be in an internal rectangle in the northern part of the city. At
this time, machiya, small traditional wooden houses, appeared that
populated the landscape of Japanese cities, and Heian-kyō was no
exception. The designation of the word Kiōto ('capital' or 'imperial
residence') was not official at the time of its inauguration, but the
name would end up being made official at the end of the 11th century,
displacing the original name. In 1180, the capital was moved to the city
of Fukuhara-kyō (福原京?), although it was only for a few months and after
this parenthesis it returned to Kyoto. The decision was made in response
to the wishes of Taira no Kiyomori, an important aristocrat who, by
moving to his traditional fiefdom, sought to secure control of the
Imperial Court.
However, since the establishment of the
shogunates, political leadership has moved to other points of power. In
this sense, the city was relegated to a secondary role, although it
continued to host the seat of the court and a large part of the central
administration, noble fiefs and a large number of religious centres.
The court and the emperor remained in Kyoto but had practically lost
their power and influence in national decisions, living in a kind of
spiritual retreat. Even so, by then, Kyoto was the largest city in the
entire country, was considered the cultural and religious centre of
Japan, and had undergone significant development.
During the
Kamakura shogunate and later the Tokugawa shogunate, Kyoto remained the
de jure capital of Japan, although it coexisted with the other capitals
that de facto constituted the true centers of power (in the first case
it was the city of Kamakura). In 1333 the Kamakura regime fell; but, as
part of these internal conflicts, between 1336 and 1392, the Imperial
Court of Kyoto was in conflict with another parallel court that had been
established in Yoshino, rivaling both for imperial legitimacy until
Kyoto became the only legitimate seat definitively. During the time of
the Ashikaga shogunate, the city again became the center of power,
although the Imperial Court remained in a secondary position. A good
number of historical buildings were built during this period, such as
the temples of Tenryū-ji (in 1339), Kinkaku-ji ('Temple of the Golden
Pavilion', 1397), Ryōan-ji (1450), or Ginkaku-ji ('Temple of the Silver
Pavilion', 1474). In general, this was a time of great prosperity for
the city.
The prosperity of medieval Kyoto was cut short by the
outbreak of the Ōnin Wars, a series of conflicts and civil wars that
tore the country apart for ten years (1467-1477) and left deep scars for
the next century. The city suffered numerous and significant damages
during these wars, such as the burning and destruction of temples and
homes, as well as the transformation of luxurious noble homes into
fortresses to protect against attacks from other clans. Around 1550, the
Spanish missionary monk Francisco Javier arrived in the city, one of the
first Westerners to visit the Japanese archipelago and, of course, to
set foot in the capital city.
Between 1600 and 1615, the nobleman
Tokugawa Ieyasu ended the wars and managed to unify the country,
establishing a new shogunate in what is called the Edo period. Once his
power was consolidated, Ieyasu established his center of power in Edo,
in the Kantō region, and Kyoto was once again relegated to a secondary
center. However, although Edo and Osaka constituted the main economic
centers of Japan, in this respect, the seat of the court maintained a
secondary position. In any case, the city remained one of the main
cities of the shogunate and, at the beginning of the 18th century, it
already reached a population of 400,000 inhabitants (Edo had about one
million). Being displaced politically did not prevent it from continuing
to be the cultural and religious heart of the shogunate, with numerous
artists, ukiyo-e painters, philosophers and writers who were born or
trained in Kyoto standing out. During the 17th and 18th centuries it was
a prestigious cultural centre, in addition to recovering its previous
production of fine crafts. Despite its relative recovery, the city
suffered fires that destroyed it on several occasions, such as the Great
Fire of Tenmei (1788).
In the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate, the so-called Bakumatsu
began, a period of political and social instability that increased to
the point of endangering the very existence of the political system.
Kyoto, as the seat of the Imperial Court and official capital,
seemed to regain political prominence after so many years of lethargy,
although Edo was often the true political and administrative centre. On
20 August 1864, a revolt broke out in the city, the so-called Hamaguri
rebellion, grouped around the Sonnō jōi movement (尊王攘夷?, 'Revere the
Emperor, expel the barbarians'). Although the attempt was harshly
repressed by the shogun's forces, two-thirds of the city - around 28,000
houses - were razed during the fighting and fires that occurred during
the revolt. Far from consolidating the situation, instability increased
and by the mid-1860s it seemed that the political situation would end up
overthrowing the shogunal regime. Thus, on the morning of January 3,
1868, a coup d'état took place in which troops under the command of the
samurai leader Saigō Takamori took the gates of the Imperial Palace and
took control of it. An assembly was immediately convened from which a
decree was issued that stripped the shogun, Yoshinobu Tokugawa, of all
his powers. In the same text it was clearly established that the
responsibility of governing the country corresponded to the emperor.
This coup did not solve all the problems, and in fact some of the
Tokugawa's feudal allies sent troops into the city to reverse or attempt
to modify the imperial decision. The Battle of Toba-Fushimi took place
on the then outskirts of the city, which meant the final fall of the
Tokugawa shogunate regime and brought the new Meiji regime to power. The
political and military victory over the shogunate was not strong enough
to shore up the resistance of the imperial regime, and far-reaching
measures were needed. One step in this direction was the transfer of the
emperor and the court - and with it, the capital - to the former
shogun's castle in Edo, which was renamed Tōkiō or 'Eastern Capital'.
After Edo was renamed, Kyoto was known for a short period as Saikyō (西京?
, 'Western Capital'). Nevertheless, in 1872, the new Meiji government
granted it the status of a city (fu).
Although it had ceased to be the centre of Japanese political power,
Kyoto experienced a slow recovery: a new university was opened in 1889,
work on the Lake Biwa canal was completed in 1890, the railway arrived
in 1889 - connecting the cities of Osaka and Tokyo - and construction of
the new Heian Shrine was completed in 1895, in commemoration of the
1,100th anniversary of its founding. The population already exceeded one
million inhabitants by 1932, as proof of this late recovery.
Unlike the larger, major Japanese cities, Kyoto was not bombed during
World War II due to its great cultural heritage and important historical
legacy. And, although it was originally going to be a target for atomic
bombs, the plan was cancelled by the American Secretary of War, Henry L.
Stimson, who wanted to save this cultural centre that he had already
seen during his honeymoon and, later, during several diplomatic visits.
For this reason, today it is the only major city in Japan that still
preserves numerous pre-war buildings. From 1964, with the arrival of the
Shinkansen and the inauguration of the Kyoto Tower, the modernisation of
traditional Kyoto began; although this means the progressive
disappearance of traditional Kyoto, which is being replaced by new
architectural styles such as the controversial Kyoto Station complex,
inaugurated in 1997. The Expo '70 in Osaka, held in 1970, was felt
throughout the Kansai region and also in Kyoto. 1994 was one of the
great moments of the city, when UNESCO declared thirteen Buddhist
temples, three Shinto shrines and Nijō Castle as World Heritage Sites,
built or remodeled in the almost three centuries from the Tokugawa
shogunate to the Meiji Restoration (1603-1808), when the imperial
capital moved to Tokyo. Three years after this nomination, Kyoto was
once again in the spotlight as the venue where the most important treaty
to date on climate change and air pollution was signed, the so-called
Kyoto Protocol. The agreement was signed on December 11, 1997, although
it would not come into force until February 16, 2005.
Kyoto City is located in the southeast of the prefecture of the same name, of which it is the capital (and to which it also gives its name). The original city was designed according to the traditional Chinese style of feng shui, modeled after the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an (present-day Xi'an). The Imperial Palace faces south, leaving Ukio (the right sector of the capital) to be in the west, while Sakyo (the left sector) to be in the east. The streets of the modern districts of Nakagyo, Shimogyo and Kamigyo follow a grid pattern. Today, the main business district is located south of the former Imperial Palace, with the less populated northern area retaining a much greener feel. However, the surrounding area does not follow the grid pattern that exists in the city center, although many of Kyoto's streets do share the distinction of having common names.
It is situated in a valley, which is part of the Yamashiro Basin, in the eastern part of the mountainous region known as the Tamba Highlands. The Yamashiro Basin is surrounded on three sides by mountains known by the names of Higashiyama, Kitayama and Nishiyama, with an elevation just above 1000 m above sea level. This results in the positioning of the hinterland in hot summers and cold winters. There are three rivers in the basin: the Ujigawa to the south, the Katsuragawa to the west, and the Kamogawa to the east. Kyoto City occupies 17.9% of the land area of the Prefecture, with a total area of 827.9 km².
Kyoto sits on a large natural water reservoir with plenty of freshwater wells to offer the city, especially the reserves held by Lake Biwa. Due to large-scale urbanization, the amount of rainfall flowing into the table is decreasing and wells in the area are drying up at an increasing rate.
Kyoto City and Prefecture have a Humid Subtropical Climate, according to the Köppen Climate Classification, with a climate characterized by warm, humid summers and cold, dry winters.
One of the main sources of its economy is tourism, as it has a large amount of historical, social and cultural heritage. Also noteworthy is the presence of large companies such as the famous Nintendo (which recently opened the Nintendo Museum), whose headquarters are located in this city.
The Japanese film and television industry has its centre in Kyoto. Numerous jidaigeki (samurai action films) have been filmed in the Toei Uzumasa Eigamura, one of the city's districts. Among the tourist attractions are a film studio and a theme park, the Eigamura, with replicas of the traditional Japanese buildings used for jidaigeki. Among the sets are a replica of the old Nihonbashi (the bridge at the entrance to Edo), a traditional Palace of Justice, a Koban from the Meiji period and part of the old Yoshiwara, the old red light district of Tokyo. Filming of current films takes place from time to time, and visitors can watch it.
Kyoto is known for being one of the country's leading academic
centers, hosting some 37 higher education institutions: Kyoto University
(京都大学; Kyōto Daigaku), one of Japan's national (public) universities, is
considered one of the best universities in Japan. According to the
British Times Higher Education magazine's ranking list, Kyoto University
would be in second place among Japanese universities and in 25th place
among all universities in the world. Kyoto Institute of Technology is
also among the most famous in Japan and is considered one of the best
university centers in the country for architecture and design studies.
In turn, along with Kyoto, Doshisha and Ritsumeikan universities are the
most popular in the Osaka-Kōbe-Kyoto metropolitan area (although the
latter two are private).
It is also known for having a unique
network of higher education institutions, the so-called Kyoto University
Consortium, which includes three national universities, five public
universities, and 41 private universities. This consortium does not
offer any degrees or certificates, but offers courses as part of the
various degrees offered by the universities participating in the
consortium. On the other hand, the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies
(KCJS) is an organization of 14 American universities that sponsors a
two-semester program of study for students wishing to do advanced work
in Japanese language as well as Japanese cultural studies. Among others,
Stanford University has its own center in Kyoto.
In football, Kyoto is represented by Kyoto Sanga F.C., which won the Emperor's Cup in 2002 and the J.League Division 2 in 2005. Kyoto Sanga had a long tradition as an amateur club, but only with the advent of professionalism was it able to compete in the Japanese top division. There are also other amateur football clubs, such as Ococias Kyoto AC and Kyoto Shiko Club (both breakaway factions of the original Kyoto Shiko F.C., which became the current Kyoto Sanga) as well as smaller clubs that compete in the Kansai regional football league.