contributor
27,669
edits
Changes
From SamuraiWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
m
→Geography
Line 9:
Line 9:
==Geography==
==Geography==
[[File:Heiankyo-Model.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Model of the [[Kyoto Imperial Palace|Heian Imperial Palace]] and parts of the city as they might have looked in the [[Heian period]]. Reproduction at Kyoto City Heiankyo Sosei-Kan Museum.]]
[[File:Heiankyo-Model.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Model of the [[Kyoto Imperial Palace|Heian Imperial Palace]] and parts of the city as they might have looked in the [[Heian period]]. Reproduction at Kyoto City Heiankyo Sosei-Kan Museum.]]
−Kyoto was built on the model of the Chinese city of [[Chang'an]] (today called Xi'an), its location carefully chosen and layout carefully arranged according to Chinese concepts of geomancy. The center of the city is for the most part laid out in a grid, with the [[Kyoto Imperial Palace|Imperial Palace]] at the center, its gates facing the cardinal directions. [[Buddhist temple]]s in the mountains on the eastern side of the city (the [[Higashiyama]] area) were purposefully erected there to defend the city from spiritual dangers and corruptive forces which are traditionally believed to flow from that direction.
+Kyoto was built on the model of the Chinese city of [[Chang'an]] (today called Xi'an), its location carefully chosen and layout carefully arranged according to Chinese concepts of geomancy. The center of the city is for the most part laid out in a grid, with the [[Kyoto Imperial Palace|Imperial Palace]] at the center, its gates facing the cardinal directions. A main boulevard called Suzaku-ôji ran directly south from the Palace's south gate, the Suzakumon, to the Rajômon, the southern gate of the official city boundaries.[[Buddhist temple]]s in the mountains on the eastern side of the city (the [[Higashiyama]] area) were purposefully erected there to defend the city from spiritual dangers and corruptive forces which are traditionally believed to flow from that direction.
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.
