Heian Palace

The original role of the palace was to manifest the centralised government model adopted by Japan from China in the 7th century – known as the ritsuryō system, where the bureaucracy under the emperor was headed by the great council of state (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.

The palace was located at the northern centre of the rectangular city Heian-kyō, following the Chinese model of the Tang dynasty capital of Chang'an.

Less than ten years after a presumably politically motivated move of the capital from Heijō-kyō (平城京) (on the site of present-day Nara) to Nagaoka-kyō (長岡京) (approx.

10 kilometers to the south-west of Kyoto), Emperor Kanmu decided to move the capital again, likely due to frequent flooding of the Nagaoka-kyō site.

[7][8] Pertly as the consequence of these developments the real administrative centre of the complex moved gradually to the emperors residential Inner Palace, or Dairi.

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.

[12] Starting in 960, the Dairi was also repeatedly destroyed by fires, but it was always rebuilt, and it continued to be used as the official imperial residence until the late 12th century.

Thus the residences of the emperors' maternal grandparents started to usurp the residential role of the palace even before the end of the Heian period.

[17] Go-Shirakawa soon abdicated in favor of his son, Emperor Nijo, and both were attacked and held captive in the palace during the Heiji rebellion.

[15] The ruined site of Jingi-kan (the government department responsible for worship of the native kami) is the longest-surviving known part of the Heian palace and apparently remained in some use until 1585.

These provide important information on the palace itself, court ceremonies and functions held there and 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 chronicles Eiga Monogatari and Ōkagami.

[23] In addition, paintings in certain emakimono picture scrolls depict (sometimes fictional) scenes that took place at the palace and similar aristocratic dwellings; the Genji Monogatari Emaki, dating from about 1130, is perhaps the best-known example.

[34] The main building within the Chōdō-in was the Great Audience Hall (大極殿, Daigokuden), which faced south from the northern end of the compound.

[38] Permission to build it inside the palace, granted in 834, shows the influence of the Shingon sect during the early Heian Period.

[46] The courtyard was flanked on both sides by smaller halls connected to the Shishinden, creating the same configuration of buildings (influenced by Chinese examples) that was found in the aristocratic shinden-style villas of the period.

It took over much of the intended use of the larger and more formal building from an early date, as the daily business of government ceased to be conducted in the presence of the emperor in the Daigokuden already at the beginning of the ninth century.

[35] Connected to this diminishing reliance on the official government procedures described in the ritsuryō code was the establishment of a personal secretariat to the emperor, the Chamberlain's Office (蔵人所, Kurōdodokoro).

This office, which increasingly took over the role of coordinating the work of government organs, was set up in the Kyōshōden (校書殿), the hall to the south-west of the Shishinden.

[48] To the north of the Shishinden stood the Jijūden (仁寿殿), a similarly constructed hall of somewhat smaller size that was originally intended to function as the emperor's living quarters.

[50] After the Dairi was rebuilt following a fire in 960, the regular residence of the emperors moved to the smaller Seiryōden (清涼殿),[12] an east-facing building located immediately to the north-west from Shishinden.

The most prestigious buildings, housing the empress and the official consorts, were the ones that had appropriate locations for such use according to the Chinese design principles – the Kokiden (弘徽殿), the Reikeiden (麗景殿) and the Jōneiden (常寧殿) – as well as the ones closest to the imperial residence in the Seiryōden (the Kōryōden (後涼殿) and the Fujitsubo (藤壷)).

A famous fictional depiction of the spatial status hierarchy concerns the eponymous character's low-ranking mother in The Tale of Genji.

[52] One of the Imperial Regalia of Japan, the emperor's replica of the sacred mirror, was housed in the Unmeiden hall (温明殿) of the Dairi.