Kyoto Imperial Palace

The Kyōto Imperial Palace (京都御所, Kyōto-gosho), also known as Dairi (内裏) or Kinri (禁裏), is the former palace of the Emperor of Japan from 1331 to 1869 located in Kamigyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. Since the Meiji Restoration in 1869, the Emperors have resided at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, while the preservation of the Kyoto Imperial Palace was ordered in 1877. Today, the grounds are open to the public, and the Imperial Household Agency hosts public tours of the buildings several times a day.

The Kyoto Imperial Palace is the latest of the imperial palaces built in the northeastern part of the old capital of Heian-kyō (now known as Kyoto) after the abandonment of the Heian Palace that was located to the west of the current palace during the Heian period. The Palace lost much of its function at the time of the Meiji Restoration, when the capital functions were moved to Tokyo in 1869. However, Emperor Taishō and Shōwa still had their enthronement ceremonies at the palace.

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

Kyoto Imperial Palace ranks #133 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #9 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded 1337, it is older than 60% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 582 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 38,185 times in the last 60 days, more than 99% of the atlas. 15 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Kyoto, 2 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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