Everything about The Heian Palace totally explained
The
Heian Palace was the original imperial palace of
Heian-kyō (present-day
Kyoto), the capital of
Japan from 794 to 1227. In
Japan, this palace is called Daidairi. The palace, which served as the imperial residence and the administrative centre of
Japan for most of the
Heian Period (from 794 to 1185), was located at the north-central location of the city in accordance with the
Chinese models used for the design of the capital.
The palace consisted of a large rectangular
walled enclosure, which contained several ceremonial and administrative buildings including the government ministries. Inside this enclosure was the separately walled
residential compound of the
emperor or the
Inner Palace. In addition to the emperor's living quarters, the Inner Palace contained the residences of the imperial consorts, as well as certain official and ceremonial buildings more closely linked to the person of the emperor.
The original role of the palace was to manifest the centralised government model adopted by
Japan from
China in the 7th century -- the
Daijō-kan and its subsidiary Eight Ministries. The palace was designed to provide an appropriate setting for the emperor's residence, the conduct of great affairs of state, and the accompanying ceremonies. While the residential function of the palace continued until the 12th century, the facilities built for grand state ceremonies began to fall into disuse by the 9th century. This was due to both the abandonment of several statutory ceremonies and procedures and the transfer of several remaining ceremonies into the smaller-scale setting of the Inner Palace.
From the mid-Heian period, the palace suffered several fires and other disasters. During reconstructions, emperors and some of the office functions resided outside of the palace. This, along with the general loss of political power of the court, acted to further diminish the importance of the palace as the administrative centre. Finally in 1227 the palace burned down and was never rebuilt. The site was built over so that almost no trace of it remains. Knowledge of the palace is thus based on contemporary literary sources, surviving diagrams and paintings, and limited excavations conducted mainly since the late 1970s.
Location
The palace was located at the northern centre of the rectangular Heian-kyō, following the Chinese model (specifically that of the
Tang Dynasty capital of
Chang'an) adopted already for the two earlier capitals
Heijō-kyō (in present-day
Nara) and
Nagaoka-kyō. The south-eastern corner of the Greater Palace was located in the middle of the present-day
Nijō Castle. The main entrance to the palace was the
Suzakumon gate, which formed the northern terminus of the great
Suzaku Avenue that ran through the centre of the city from the
Rashōmon gate. The palace thus faced south and presided over the symmetrical urban plan of Heian-kyō. In addition to the Suzakumon gate, the palace had 13 other gates located symmetrically along the side walls. A led to each of the gates, except for the three along the northern side of the palace, which was coterminous with the northern boundary of the city itself.
Greater Palace (Daidairi)
The was a walled rectangular area extending approximately 1.4 kilometres (0.85 miles) from north to south between the first and second major east-west avenues (and and 1.2 kilometres (0.75 miles) from west to east between the and north-south avenues.
The three main structures within the Greater Palace were the
Official Compound, the
Reception Compound and the .
Chōdō-in was a rectangular walled enclosure situated directly to the north of the Suzakumon gate in the centre of the southern wall of the Greater Palace. It was based on Chinese models and followed Chinese architectural styles, and archaeological evidence from earlier capitals shows that this building complex was present in earlier palaces and had a remarkably stable design from the 7th century onwards.
The main building within the Chōdō-in was the or the Great Audience Hall, facing south at the northern end of the compound. This was a large (approximately 52 m (170 ft) east to west and 20 m (65 ft) north to south) Chinese-style building with white walls, vermilion pillars and green tiled roofs, intended to host the most important state ceremonies and functions. The southern part of the Chōdō-in was occupied by the Twelve Halls where the bureaucracy was seated for ceremonies according to strict order of precedence. The
Heian Jingū shrine in Kyoto includes an apparently faithful reconstruction of the Daigokuden in somewhat reduced scale.
It was in the Chōdō-in that Accession Audiences were held, the
emperor was supposed to preside over early morning deliberations on major state affairs by the bureaucracy, receive monthly reports from officials, hold New Year Congratulations and receive foreign ambassadors. However, the practice of the morning deliberations ceased to be followed by 810 as did the monthly reports. Foreign ambassadors were no longer received for most of the Heian period, and the New Year celebrations were abbreviated and moved into the
Dairi by the end of the 10th century, leaving the Accession Audiences and certain Buddhist ceremonials as the only ones held in the Chōdō-in. Its placement right next to the Inner Palace shows the influence of the
Shingon sect during the early Heian Period.
Inner Palace (Dairi)
The Inner Palace or Dairi was located to the north-east of the Chōdō-in, somewhat to the east of the central north-south axis of the Greater Palace. Its central feature was the
Throne Hall. The Dairi encompassed the emperor's quarters and the pavilions of the imperial consorts and ladies-in-waiting (collectively, the
Kōkyū). The Dairi was enclosed within two sets of walls. In addition to the Dairi itself, the outer walls enclosed some household offices, storage areas, and the, a walled area of
Shinto buildings associated with the emperor's religious functions, situated to the west of the Dairi itself, at the geographic centre of the Greater Palace. The principal gate of the larger enclosure was the, located in the southern wall along the median north-south axis of the Dairi.
The Dairi proper, the residential compound of the emperor, was enclosed within another set of walls to the east of Chūwain. It measured approximately 215 m (710 ft) north to south and 170 m (560 ft) east to west. The main gate was the at the centre of the southern wall of the Dairi enclosure, immediately to the north of the Kenreimon gate. In contrast to the solemn official Chinese-style architecture of the Chōdō-in and the Buraku-in, the Dairi was built in more intimate Japanese architectural style — if still on a grand scale. The Inner Palace represented a variant of the
shinden style architecture used in the aristocratic villas and houses of the period. The buildings, with unpainted surfaces and gabled and shingled cypress bark roofs, were raised on elevated wooden platforms and connected to each other with covered and uncovered slightly elevated passages. Between the buildings and passages were gravel yards and small gardens.
The largest building of the Dairi was the
Throne Hall or, a building reserved for official functions. It was a rectangular hall measuring approximately 30 m (98 ft) east to west and 25 m (82 ft) north to south,
To the north of the Shishinden stood the, a similarly constructed hall of somewhat smaller size that was intended to function as the emperor's living quarters. However, beginning already in the ninth century, the emperors often chose to reside in other buildings of the Dairi. A third still smaller hall, the was located next to the north along the main axis of the Dairi. After the Dairi was rebuilt following a fire in 960, the regular residence of the emperors moved to the smaller, an east-facing building located immediately to the north-west from Shishinden. Gradually the Seiryōden began to be used increasingly for meetings as well, with emperors spending much of their time in this part of the palace. The busiest part of the building was the, where high-ranking nobles came to meet in the presence of the emperor.
The empress, as well as the official and unofficial imperial consorts, was also housed in the Dairi, occupying buildings in the northern part of the enclosure. The most prestigious buildings, housing the empress and the official consorts, were the ones that had appropriate locations for such use according to the originally Chinese design principles (the, the and the, as well as the ones closest to the imperial residence in Seiryōden (the and the ).
The lesser consorts and ladies-in-waiting occupied other buildings in the northern half of the Dairi.
One of the
Imperial Regalia of Japan, the emperor's replica of the
sacred mirror, was also housed in the of the Dairi.
The present-day
Kyoto Imperial Palace, located in what was the north-eastern corner of Heian-kyō, reproduces much of the Heian-period Dairi, in particular the Shishinden and the Seiryōden.
History
The palace was the first and most important structure to be erected at the new capital of Heian-kyō, where the court moved in 794 following
Emperor Kanmu's order. The palace wasn't completely ready by the time of the move, however—the Daigokuden was completed only in 795, and the government office in charge of its construction was disbanded only in 805.
The grand Chinese-style compounds of Chōdō-in and Buraku-in started to fall into disuse quite early on, in parallel with the decline of the elaborate Chinese-inspired
ritsuryō government processes and bureaucracy, which were gradually either abandoned or reduced to empty forms. The centre of gravity of the palace complex moved to the Inner Palace or Dairi, and the Shishinden and later even the Seiryōden overtook the Daigokuden as loci for the conduct of official government business.
In parallel with the concentration of activity within the Dairi, the Greater Palace began to be regarded as increasingly unsafe, especially by night. One reason may be the prevalent superstition of the period: uninhabited buildings were avoided for fear of spirits and ghosts, and even the great Buraku-in compound was thought to be haunted. In addition, the level of actual security maintained at the palace went into decline, and by the early 11th century only one palace gate, the Yōmeimon in the east, appears to have been guarded. Hence burglary and even violent crime became a problem within the palace by the first half of 11th century.
Fires were a constant problem as the palace compound was constructed almost entirely of wood. The Daigokuden was reconstructed after fires in 876, 1068 and in 1156 despite its limited use. However, after the major fire of 1177 which destroyed much of the Greater Palace, the Daigokuden was never again rebuilt. The Burakuin was destroyed by a fire in 1063 and was never rebuilt. The present
Kyoto Imperial Palace is located immediately to the west of the site of the, the great Fujiwara residence in the north-eastern corner of the city.
Primary sources
While the palace itself has been completely destroyed, a significant amount of information regarding it has been obtained from contemporary and almost contemporary sources. The Heian Palace figures as a background for action in many Heian period literary texts, both fiction and non-fiction. These provide important information on the palace itself, court ceremonies and functions held there as well as everyday routines of the courtiers living or working there. Notable examples include the
Tale of Genji by
Murasaki Shikibu, the so-called
Pillow Book by
Sei Shōnagon and the chronicle
Eiga Monogatari. In addition, paintings in certain
emakimono picture scrolls depict (sometimes fictional) scenes that took place at the palace; the Genji Monogatari Emaki, dating from about 1130 is perhaps the best-known example. Finally, there are also partially damaged contemporary maps of the palace from the 10th and 12th centuries showing the layout and function of the buildings within Dairi.
In addition to literary evidence, archaeological excavation conducted mainly since the late 1970s have revealed further information about the palace. In particular, the existence and location of buildings such as the Buraku-in compound has been verified against the contemporary documentary sources.
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