[1] Upon the court being moved to Kyoto from Nagaoka by Emperor Kanmu (737–806),[2] the struggles for power regarding the throne that had characterized the Nara period diminished.

[1] Kyoto was selected as the location for the court because of its "proper" amount of rivers and mountains which were believed to be the most auspicious surroundings for the new capital.

[1] The most prominent group of people within the court was the civil aristocracy (kuge) which was the ruling class of society that exercised power on behalf of the emperor.

[3] Kyoto's identity as a political, economic, and cultural centre started to be challenged in the post-1185 era with the rise of the shogunate system which gradually seized governance from the emperor.

[4] After Yoritomo launched the shogunate, true political power was in the hand of the shōguns, who were mistaken several times for the emperors of Japan by representatives of Western countries.