Heijō Palace

Heijō Palace (平城宮, Heijō-kyū) was the imperial residence in the Japanese capital city Heijō-kyō (today's Nara), during most of the Nara period. The palace, which served as the imperial residence and the administrative centre for most of the Nara period from 710 to 794 AD, 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 daidairi (大内裏; also pronounced taidairi), 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 state affairs, and associated ceremonial functions.

After the capital was moved to Heian, the palace structures were either moved there or suffered several fires and other disasters and disappeared. The site was converted to agricultural use, and almost no trace of it remained; the location was still known, however. Excavations started in the 1970s, and large-scale reconstruction based on contemporary literary sources and excavations started in the 2000s.

Text adapted from “Heijō Palace” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Heijō Palace ranks #636 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #32 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 7,515 times in the last 60 days, more than 90% of the atlas. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Osaka, 27 km away. It is one of the 71 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Kansai. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

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