contributor
27,126
edits
Changes
From SamuraiWiki
Jump to navigationJump to searchno edit summary
The [[Kamo River]], which enters the city from the north and passes between the two [[Kamo Shrines]] near the northern edge of the ancient city, originally marked the eastern edge of Heian-kyô, though the city later expanded beyond it.
The [[Kamo River]], which enters the city from the north and passes between the two [[Kamo Shrines]] near the northern edge of the ancient city, originally marked the eastern edge of Heian-kyô, though the city later expanded beyond it.
*Higashi-yama
*Higashiyama
*Other temples of note
*Other temples of note
*Gion, other cultural centers
*[[Gion]], other cultural centers
[[Nishijin]], an area to the west of the [[Kyoto Imperial Palace|Imperial Palace]], with its center to the north of Shinmachi-Imadegawa, has remained the premier textile district in Japan for centuries.
[[Nishijin]], an area to the west of the Imperial Palace, with its center to the north of Shinmachi-Imadegawa, has remained the premier textile district in Japan for centuries.
Historically, the city was, for the most part, divided simply into areas associated with the Court, those controlled by temples & shrines, and the rest. However, beginning in the late 16th to early 17th century, Kyoto came to be geographically more strictly divided according to social status. [[Nijo castle|Nijô castle]], constructed in [[1626]] to the southwest of the Imperial Palace, was intended to serve as a shogunal palace, though no shogun visited Kyoto between the 1630s and the 1860s. Nevertheless, the shogunate's administrative buildings in the city were crowded around Nijô castle, along with the residences of many samurai families. The mansions of court nobles were, for the most part, relocated to be clustered around the Imperial Palace. Merchants and artisans gathered in certain neighborhoods, and areas on the edges of the city were designated for the ''eta'' and ''hinin'', the lowest classes, who were considered non-human and inherently impure.
Roughly half of the daimyô in Tokugawa Japan, that is, at least 105 of them, maintained mansions in Kyoto, operated by a ''rusuiyaku'' when the lord was not present.<ref name=moriya>Moriya, Katsuhisa. Ronald Toby (trans.) "Urban Networks and Information Networks." in Chie Nakane and Shinzaburô Ôishi (eds.) ''Tokugawa Japan: The Social and Economic Antecedents of Modern Japan''. University of Tokyo Press, 1990. pp97-123.</ref>
Roughly half of the daimyô in Tokugawa Japan, that is, at least 105 of them, maintained mansions in Kyoto, operated by a ''rusuiyaku'' when the lord was not present.<ref name=moriya>Moriya, Katsuhisa. Ronald Toby (trans.) "Urban Networks and Information Networks." in Chie Nakane and Shinzaburô Ôishi (eds.) ''Tokugawa Japan: The Social and Economic Antecedents of Modern Japan''. University of Tokyo Press, 1990. pp97-123.</ref>
==History==
==History==
Kyoto saw much violence and destruction over the centuries, both from wars and battles, as well as from natural disasters. Various rebellions of the late Heian period, along with significant elements of the Genpei War of the 12th century and [[Nanboku-cho|Nanboku-chô Wars]] of the 14th century, took place in Kyoto. However, the city saw the worst destruction it would ever suffer in war during the [[Onin War|Ônin War]] (1467-77), which took place primarily in the city's streets. Many of the homes of the city's [[samurai]] and ''[[kuge]]'' were transformed into fortresses; wood, bamboo, and earthworks were used to construct walls and other defenses, and the streets themselves were torn up to form ditches and trenches. The city would not be fully rebuilt and recovered for several decades afterwards.
Kyoto saw much violence and destruction over the centuries, both from wars and battles, as well as from natural disasters. Various rebellions of the late Heian period, along with significant elements of the Genpei War of the 12th century and [[Nanboku-cho|Nanboku-chô Wars]] of the 14th century, took place in Kyoto. However, the city saw the worst destruction it would ever suffer in war during the [[Onin War|Ônin War]] (1467-77), which took place primarily in the city's streets. Many of the homes of the city's [[samurai]] and ''[[kuge]]'' were transformed into fortresses; wood, bamboo, and earthworks were used to construct walls and other defenses, and the streets themselves were torn up to form ditches and trenches. The city would not be fully rebuilt and recovered for several decades afterwards.
It was during the time of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, around [[1590]]-[[1592]], that Kyoto saw considerable reconstruction efforts. The street grid was restored in some areas, or redefined in other areas (i.e. new streets were constructed). Maeda Gen'i, Hideyoshi's deputy in the city, oversaw the construction in [[1591]] of an earthen embankment, or ''[[odoi]]'', which defined the official borders of the city, dividing the area into ''rakuchû'' ("inside the capital") and ''rakugai'' ("outside the capital"). Between Hideyoshi's efforts, and those undertaken by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] in the early decades of the 17th century, the city came to be reorganized, with many important institutions relocated, and districts defined or redefined to be inhabited by members of a particular social class.
Along with [[Edo]] and [[Osaka]], Kyoto was one of the archipelago's three primary centers of commerce and urban commoner culture during the Edo period. Not a part of any daimyô's [[han|domain]], Kyoto was governed by a shogunate official called the ''[[Kyoto shoshidai]]'', who oversaw the city's administrative affairs on behalf of the shogunate. Boasting a sizeable population of roughly 200,000 by the end of the 16th century, Kyoto's population nearly doubled to roughly 350,000-400,000 over the course of the Edo period.<ref name=moriya/> ''[[Ukiyo-e]]'', [[kabuki]], ''[[joruri|jôruri]]'' (puppet theatre), and various new forms of literature, along with the various arts and entertainments of the pleasure districts, thrived alongside older, more traditional arts, many of them developing into distinct forms and styles exclusive to Kyoto, reflecting a decidedly more reserved, traditional, and slower pace and lifestyle than their Edo and Osaka cousins.
Along with [[Edo]] and [[Osaka]], Kyoto was one of the archipelago's three primary centers of commerce and urban commoner culture during the Edo period. Not a part of any daimyô's [[han|domain]], Kyoto was governed by a shogunate official called the ''[[Kyoto shoshidai]]'', who oversaw the city's administrative affairs on behalf of the shogunate. Boasting a sizeable population of roughly 200,000 by the end of the 16th century, Kyoto's population nearly doubled to roughly 350,000-400,000 over the course of the Edo period.<ref name=moriya/> ''[[Ukiyo-e]]'', [[kabuki]], ''[[joruri|jôruri]]'' (puppet theatre), and various new forms of literature, along with the various arts and entertainments of the pleasure districts, thrived alongside older, more traditional arts, many of them developing into distinct forms and styles exclusive to Kyoto, reflecting a decidedly more reserved, traditional, and slower pace and lifestyle than their Edo and Osaka cousins.
==References==
==References==
*Ching, Francis D.K. et al. ''A Global History of Architecture''. Second Edition. John Wiley & Sons, 2011. p590.
<references/>
<references/>
[[Category:Cities and Towns]]
[[Category:Cities and Towns]]
{{stub}}
{{stub}}
