Historical Transformation of Kyoto Imperial Palace through Site Plans

Kyoto Imperial Palace served as the residence of successive Emperors until 1869. It preserves the architectural style of Heian period palace buildings and continuously inherits Japan's refined court culture.

However, its history has not been smooth. Due to repeated fires and other disasters, the palace functions were relocated outside the Daidairi (or Heiankyu) to various court nobles’ residences, which are called Satodairi. Even after settling in its current location in 1331, it was repeatedly struck by fires.

Furthermore, the current Kyoto Imperial Palace, constructed in the second year of Ansei (1855) at the end of the Edo period, experienced periods of hardship, including deterioration following the Meiji Restoration and the relocation of the capital to Tokyo, as well as large-scale building evacuations during World War II. The Kyoto Imperial Palace has been preserved to this day thanks to the efforts of many people over the years, overcoming numerous crises.

Here, we introduce the transformation of the Kyoto Imperial Palace from the Heian period to the present, utilizing materials from the Imperial Household Agency's collection. We plan to gradually add more content.

Click the viewer's slider panelto display the slider. Next, click and grab the thumb, then move it to the right. As you do this, the site plan of the Kyoto Imperial Palace will overlay and transform from 1855 to the present time for comparison.