Friday, June 28, 2019
Phew.. This is my last article for the Japan, and am sure it brings immense pleasure and content that I did it. It was painful to type the articles, cross reference the doubts, type info from pictures and also from any sheets that I got during visits, sorting out pics, process them with adobe Lightroom and finally plug them all here. Its quiet a journey, but am genuinely happy that I did it.
After the visit to the Nijo castle, I took a taxi to Kyoto Imperial Palace and got dropped at North entrance. As it was quiet early, I got some good pics without people. Again, am not sure why this was not in the top lists of Kyoto. This is super huge and people can spend easily half a day at the least here. I took long walks and covered as much possible with the glimpse of Gyoen National Garden.
The Kyoto Imperial Palace (Kyoto Gosho)
This was the residence of the Japanese emperors until 1869, when the capital was moved to Tokyo during the Meiji Restoration. The history of the Kyoto Imperial Palace can be traced back to the late 8th century, when Emperor Kanmu moved the capital from Heijo-kyo (Nara) to Nagaoka-kyo in 784 and then to Heian-kyo (Kyoto) in 794.
The boundaries of the ancient capital city of Heian-kyo formed a rectangle measuring 5.2km from north to south and 4.5 km from east to west. The emperor’s residential inner palace (dairi) was located inside the greater palace (daidairi), a large, walled complex that included the ceremonial buildings, government offices and the inner palace. When the inner palace was damaged or destroyed by fire, the mansions of the aristocracy would provide temporary accommodation for the emperor, as a temporary Imperial palace (sato-dairi).
The site of the present Kyoto Imperial Palace was originally one of these temporary residences, called Tsuchimikado Higashinotoin-dono. This site has served as the permanent Imperial Palace for over 500 years, since Emperor Kogon was enthroned here in 1331, until the capital moved to Tokyo in 1860. During those 500 years, the palace was plagued by fire and was reconstructed several times. The present structures were reconstructed in 1855. This palace was no only home to Emperor Komei (1831-1867) and his successor, Meiji, but also the stage for such important historical events during the Meiji Restoration.
The present Kyoto Imperial Palace is a rectangle measuring 450m from north to south and 250, from east to west, surrounded by an earthen wall, covering an area of 11 hectares.
Carriage porch was reserved for the exclusive use of high ranking courtiers when they attended court rituals or had an audience with the emperor.
Shodaibunoma (Waiting rooms)
The three rooms of the Shodaiby-no-ma served as waiting rooms, with visitors allocated to one of the rooms according to their ranks. In descending order of importance, these are the Room of the Tigers, the room of the Cranes and the Room of the Cherry Blossoms, named after the paintings that adorn the sliding doors of each of the rooms. Differences in status are also expressed in the use of different colored tatami mat edgings. Visitors who were to to use the Room of the Tigers or the Room of the Cranes were allowed to use the Carriage Porch, while those using the Room of the Cherry Blossoms entered the room directly from outside using stepping stone located to the left of the building.
Shinmikurumayose (New Carriage Porch)
This carriage porch was newly built in 1915, for Emperor Taisho (1879-1926) to make an entrance and exit on a carriage when the emperor’s enthronement ceremony was held in the Shishin-den. The carriage porch faces south, following the tradition of emperor’s entering and exiting from the south side of the Kyoto Imperial Palace.
Shisinden (Hall for State Ceremonies)
The Shishinden is the most important building in the Kyoto Imperial Palace. The most important state ceremonies such as the enthronement of the emperor were held here. The current building dates from 1855 and revived the building style of the Heian Period (794-1185), in order to accommodate ancient ceremonies. The Chartere Oath, a five article statement outlining the aims of the reign emperor Meiji, was promulgated from this building in 1868. This Oath can be regarded as the first constitution of modern Japan. The present building was used fro the enthronements of the Emperors Meiji (1868), Taisho (1915), and Showa (1928). The southern courtyard, enclosed by colonnades, was also important as a place to hold ceremonies. Viewed from the vantage of the throne, the Shishinden’s central staircase is flanked to the left by a left-cherry-tree and to the right by a right-mandarin-orange-tree.
The Emperor’s Throne and the Empress’ Throne
The throne standing in the centre of the Shishinden is the emperor’s throne (takamikura), with the empress’ throne (michodai) standing to the right. These thrones are used especially during the enthronement ceremony of a new emperor. The present thrones of the Emperor (takamikura) and Empress (michodai) were made in 1915 for the enthronement of Emperor Taisho and were used for the enthronement ceremonies of Emperors Taisho, Showa and Heisei. Currently the thrones are in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo because the enthronement ceremony of His Majesty the Emperor will be held there.
The emperor’s throne itself stands on a black lacquered platform surrounded by red-lacquered balustrades, under an octangular canopy supported by eight columns. There is one large and eight small Phoenixes adorning the canopy. The phoenix is an Imperial symbol. The empress’ throne is a very similar structure to that of the emperor, but is about 10 percent smaller in size.
Kenreimon (Gate)
Kenreimon Gate is the south facing main gate of the Kyoto Imperial Palace. It was used for important rituals held in the Shishinden such as the enthronement ceremony.
Seiryoden (Hall of Ceremonies)
The Seiryoden was the living quarters of the emperor starting from the 10th century. Important religious observances and political affairs were also conducted here. After the construction of the Otsunegoten imperial residential quarters in 1590, the Seiryoden was used almost exclusively for rites and rituals. In order to stage traditional rituals, the mid-Heian period architectural form and the interiors adhere to more ancient rules. The thick tatami mat placed in the center of the building is where the emperor was seated (hinoomashi).
Kogosho (Palace for Ceremonies and Imperial Audiences)
The Kogosho was built during the Kamakura period (1185-1333), and was used in the Edo period (1603-1868) to hold ceremonies and for imperial audiences with members of the governing samurai class (buke). This building is famous as the place where discussions were held on how to deal with the Tokugawa Shogun in 1868 during the Meiji Restoration. The building is divided into three rooms each higher than the next, surrounded by a wide wooden corridor, making the Kogosho a very practical building capable of accommodating many different ceremonies. The current Kogosho was rebuilt in 1958 after it burnt down in 1954.
Oikeniwa (Garden)
The Oikeniwa Garden is a strolling garden, and has a large pond. On the right side of the garden, you can see the wooden Zelkova Bridge (Keyakibashi bridge). The shore covered with pebbles is called suhama meaning beach and flat rectangular stones are the place where a boat anchored.
Ogakumonjo (Place for study and other Ceremonies)
The Ogakumonjo was separated from the Seiryoden in 1613. This building was used to hold academic events such as the ‘First Reading Ceremony’ for the crown prince (Odokusho hajime) and waka poetry gatherings, as well as for imperial audiences. In 1867, Emperor Meiji met here with the Imperial princess and his retainers, and issues the ‘Decree for the Restoration of Imperial Rule”, a pivotal event in the Meiji Restoration. The interior is divided into 6 rooms, including an upper, middle and lower room, all covered with tatami mats.
Otsunegoten (Imperial Residential Palace)
The living quarters of the emperor, the Otsunegoten was originally located inside the Seiryoden, but was removed to a separate building in 1590. As well as being the living the quarters of the emperor, there are three rooms on the south side of the building, the upper, middle and lower rooms, which were used for rituals and imperial audiences. The building consists in total of fifteen rooms, including the imperial sleeping chamber and the room where the Sacred Sword and the Jade (two of the Three Imperial Regalia of Japan) where kept.
Gonaitei (Garden)
This elegant garden was exquisitely designed with the meandering stream spanned by the earthern and stone bridges as well as lanterns and stones.
Back to my own words,
After these 2 palace visits, we checked out of the hotel and tried to for shopping nearby. However, we returned back to the lounge of the hotel and booked couple of taxis to get dropped at the Kyoto station. All worked out like clock work and in no time, we were resting at the Haneda airport. Our flight was by 2:30am in the next day, so had enough time to explore the restaurants that were open by 11pm and settled down. Our flight was on time and got us back to SG that morning. A beautiful episode of the rainyHills got to an end then.
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