Kyoto (京都) was the capital of Japan for over a thousand years. It held that role from 794 until the emperor moved to Tokyo in 1868. Few other cities carry their history so openly. Thousands of temples and shrines, whole streets of wooden merchant houses and a formal, old-fashioned way of speaking set the city apart from the rest of the country.
A city built to be the centre
The name Kyoto simply means "capital city," and for most of Japanese history that is exactly what it was. Its planners laid it out on a grid, like the great Chinese capitals of the time. The city became the home of the emperor's court. For more than a thousand years it was the centre of politics, religion and high culture. During the Second World War, bombing destroyed much of urban Japan, but it mostly spared Kyoto. The US Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, even took the city off the list of targets for the atomic bomb. This stroke of luck explains why so much of old Kyoto survives almost intact: its temples, its gardens and whole neighbourhoods.
Old Japan, still lived in
Kyoto is not a museum frozen in time. People live and work among its temples and narrow lanes every day. The city still trains geisha and weaves fine silk. Some of its shops are centuries old, and the same family has passed down the skills for generations. In areas like Gion, old wooden townhouses called machiya stand shoulder to shoulder along quiet streets. The hills around the city hold famous gardens, quiet forest paths and some of the most photographed shrines and temples in Japan. Millions of visitors come every year for exactly this mix. Here real daily life sits right on top of twelve centuries of history.
Words & idioms to take away
Idioms & proverbs to carry away
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古都 (koto): "old capital," a common name for Kyoto that recalls its long history as the seat of the emperors.
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町家 (machiya): a traditional wooden townhouse, narrow at the front and deep inside. It was once the standard home of Kyoto's shopkeepers and craftspeople.