Kyoto Imperial Palace and Kyoto Gyoen National Garden｜京都御所と京都御苑

Though the current buildings of Kyoto Imperial Palace are all less than two centuries old, its history dates all the way back to 794 when Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Heian-kyō, “the capital of peace”, and designed the city of Kyoto around his center of government. Once the dairi, the official location of the imperial palace, was decided, no matter how many times the wooden structures were destroyed by fire or lightning, it was rebuilt in the same place. During the periods when the dairi was uninhabitable the emperor would temporarily stay at the mansions of aristocrats in a custom called sato-dairi. Over time the location of a sato-dairi became the more preferred for the emperor, and the dairi, the original imperial palace, fell into disuse until the imperial family eventually stopped rebuilding it after numerous wars and fires.

The currently standing Imperial Palace that was once simply a sato-dairi became the official residence of emperors from the reign of Emperor Kōgon in 1331 until the time of Emperor Meiji in 1869, when the capital was moved to Tokyo. The current structures largely date to 1854, when the Tokugawa Shogunate provided financing to have them restored in their original ancient style.

As the center of government and imperial life, Kyoto Imperial Palace has naturally been the site of numerous important historical occurrences in the past thousand years. The famous 11^th century novel The Tale of Genji often depicts scenes in the Imperial Palace (albeit in its original dairi location), as it deals with the romance, political scandal, and intrigue in daily court life. Once the samurai warrior class gained power and the position of the emperor became more symbolic, the imperial palace’s functions became more ritualistic than political. Those warriors who ruled as de facto leaders of the country usually made trips to the palace for nominal visits and reports to the emperor, though they were more for show than true subordination.

Because of the Ōnin Civil War and other battles the palace often ended up burned to the ground, so it was reconstructed countless times. In 1854, numerous buildings were lost to a fire, and some sections of the palace used by abdicated emperors and the consorts were not rebuilt. The Kinmon Incident in 1864, in which sonnō jōi patriots who strove to restore imperial rule and expel foreigners from the country began a failed rebellion attempt at the palace, also caused damage by fire.

Kyoto Imperial Palace experienced a period of upheaval upon the arrival of Commodore Perry, the end of sakoku (the centuries-long period of national isolation policy started by Tokugawa Iemitsu in the 1630s), and the increasing possibility of Westernization. With his government under threat, on November 9, 1867 the 15^th Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, announced his retirement in an act known as taisei hōkan and restored Japan to imperial rule. On January 3, 1868 the Emperor of Japan proclaimed that “permission has been granted to the shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu to return the governing power in accordance with his own request,” and the shogunate’s power was further crippled at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. However, the return of power did not herald a return of the glory days of Kyoto Imperial Palace, as Emperor Meiji moved the capital to Tokyo in 1869.

The last imperial functions performed at Kyoto Imperial Palace were the enthronement ceremonies of the Taishō and Shōwa emperors in 1915 and 1928, respectively.