Heian Palace
The Heian Palace (Japanese平安 宫, Heian kyū ), also Greater Palace (大 内 里), was between 794-1227 of the imperial palace of Heian - kyō (now Kyoto ), the former capital of Japan. The palace served during most of the Heian period (794-1185) as imperial residence and administrative center of Japan. According to Chinese models, it was located in the northern center of the capital.
The palace consisted of a large rectangular Walling with various ceremonial and administrative buildings, including the government ministries. Inside was the separate Walling of the living area of the emperor or the inner palace Dairi. In addition to the apartments of the Emperor, was home to the Dairi the residences of the imperial consorts and certain administrative and Zeremonialgebäude which were closely linked to the person of the emperor.
The original role of the palace was the manifestation of the 7th century adopted from China model of a centralized government - the Daijō -kan and its subordinate eight ministries. The palace should be a reasonable place for the seat of the emperor, and the control of important state affairs and the accompanying ceremonies. While the function as imperial residence lasted until the 12th century, the buildings were no longer used to control the affairs of state in the 9th century. This was partly due to the removal of various statutory ceremonies and processes, as well as the relocation of the remaining ceremonies into the smaller frame of the inner palace.
From the mid- Heian period at the Palace suffered several fires and other disasters. During the reconstruction of the emperor and some offices outside the palace had to reside. This and the loss of power of the court in general led to a further weakening of the palace as an administrative center. When the palace burned down again in 1227, he was therefore not rebuilt. The site was built over, so that hardly any were left over traces. Knowledge of the palace, therefore, comes from contemporary literary sources, charts, paintings and limited excavations, which are mainly carried out since the late 70s.
Location
The Palace was located in the northern center of the rectangular Heian - kyō, which, like the previous two capitals Heijo - kyō and Nagaoka - kyō was based on the Chinese model of the Tang capital Chang'an.
The southeastern corner of the Greater Palace was located in the middle of today's Nijo Castle.
The main entrance to the palace was the Suzaku - mon (35 ° 0 ' 49 "N, 135 ° 44 ' 32 " O35.013611111111135.74222222222 ) as the northern end of the central Suzaku ōji (朱雀 大路), at the southern end of the Rajo - mon was located. Therefore, the palace looked to the south and was enthroned on the symmetrically designed Heian - kyō. In addition to the Suzaku - mon to 13 additional gates were symmetrical along the walls. Main roads (大路, ōji ) led to each of the gates, with the exception of three at the north end of the Palace, which also formed the northern end of the city.
Construction
The Greater Palace and outer palace was turned walled rectangular area of about 1.4 km in the north-south direction between the First and Second East-West main street (一条 大路, Ichijō ōji and二条 大路, Nijo ōji ) and 1.2 km in east-west direction between Nishi- Ōmiya - ōji (西 大 宫 大路) and Ōmiya - ōji (大 宫 大路).
The three main groups of buildings in the Greater Palace were:
- The Chodo - in (朝堂 院),
- The Buraku - in (豊 楽 院) and
- The Dairi (内 里).
Chodo - in
The Chodo - in was a rectangular surrounding wall just north of the Suzaku - mon. It was based on Chinese models and architectural styles. Archaeological evidence shows that this complex was also present in earlier palaces and has barely changed since the 7th century. The entrance to the Chodo - in was the soldering - mon.
The main building in the Chodo - in was the Daigokuden (大 极 殿) - the Great Audience Hall - Looking south at the northern end of the complex. This was about 52 m from east to west and 20 meters from north to south, large building in Chinese style with white walls, vermilion pillars and green -tiled roofs. In this, the most important state ceremonies and functions should take place. Today's Heian jingū in Kyoto contains a presumably faithful reconstruction of Daigokuden reduced scale.
At the southern end of the Chodo - in were the 12 halls in which the bureaucracy was placed in strict hierarchy in ceremonies.
In Chodo - in the throne ascents took place, the Emperor sat there before the daily morning meetings of the bureaucratic apparatus of important state affairs, received the monthly reports of the officials who held New Year's greetings and received foreign ambassadors. However, the practice of morning discussions was 810 set, as well as the monthly reports. Foreign ambassadors were not received during the majority of the Heian period and the New Year greetings have been abbreviated end of the 10th century and moved to the Dairi, so that only the throne ascents and certain Buddhist ceremonies were held in the Chodo - in.
Buraku - in
The Buraku - in was another rectangular, Chinese building west of the Chodo - in. In this official ceremonies and banquets were held, but other forms of entertainment such as archery competitions. As the Chodo - in also had the Buraku in a hall at the central, northern end of the site to monitor the court. This hall, the Buraku the (豊 楽 殿), was used by the emperor and courtiers to oversee the activities of the Buraku - in. Also like the Chodo - in in Buraku with the relocation came the many functions for Dairi disuse. The terrain is one of the few within the palace area, which was excavated.
En no Matsubara, Daijō -kan and Shingon in
In addition to the Dairi was the remaining area of the Greater Palace of the various ministries, offices, workshops, warehouses and a large open area east of the Dairi, the En no Matsubara (宴 の 松原, dt " pine grove of banquets ") taken.
The buildings of the Daijō -kan (太 政 官) were in a Walling, just east of the Chodo - in, were arranged symmetrically with an opening towards the south.
In the Palace itself also was the Shingon - in (真言 院), which was next to the Tō -ji and Sai -ji the only allowed Buddhist site in the capital. Its location on the right next to the Dairi shows the influence of Shingon shū during the early Heian period.
Dairi
The Dairi or inner palace was northeast of the Chodo - in, a little east of the central north- south axis of the Greater Palace. The main feature was the throne room. The Dairi contained the Kokyu: the apartments of the Emperor and the pavilions of the imperial consorts and maids. The Dairi was covered by two rows of walls. In addition to the Dairi itself enclosed the outer walls of some offices, warehouses and the Chūwa - in (中 和 院), a walled grounds of belonging to the religious function of the emperor Shinto buildings in the west of the Dairi and in the geographic center of the Greater Palace. The main gate of the outer Walling, the Kenrei - mon (建 礼 门), was located on the south wall along the central north - south axis of the Dairi.
The actual Dairi - the living area of the Emperor - was in a further series of east wall of the Chūwa - in. This measured about 215 m in north-south and 170 meters east - west direction. The main gate was the Shomei - mon (承 明 门) in the middle of the inner southern wall and just north of the Kenrei - mon. In contrast to the ornate architecture of the office building of the Chodo -in, and Buraku in Chinese style, the Dairi was built in the more domestic Japanese style, albeit on a large scale. The Dairi produced a version of the Shinden style used at that time in buildings of the nobility represents the unpainted building with shingled gable roofs made of cypress wood were built on raised wooden platforms and connected by slightly elevated passages. Between the buildings, pebble courtyards and small gardens were.
Shishin - the
The largest building in the Dairi was reserved for official functions Shishin - the (紫宸 殿) or throne room. This was a rectangular hall, which measured about 30 meters east -west and 25 m in north-south direction. It was located along the central north- south axis of the Dairi and surveyed the rectangular courtyard in the direction of the Shomei - mon. Depending on one orange ( tachibana ) and a cherry ( sakura ) were symmetrically along both sides of the front stairs. The yard was flanked on both sides by smaller with the Shishin - Joined halls; one influenced by Chinese examples building arrangement, the back was also found in the aristocratic villas in the Shinden style of this period.
The Shishin - the was used for official functions and ceremonies, which were not held in Daigokuden the Chodo - in. It took over many of the planned features of the larger and more formal building of early, since the beginning of the 9th century, the daily affairs of the government were no longer carried out in the presence of the emperor in Daigokuden. Connected with this fading reliance on official government processes, as described in ritsuryō Code, was the establishment of a personal secretariat for the emperor: the Kurōdodokoro (蔵 人 所). This office took over more and more the role of coordinating the government organs, and was in the Kyosho (校 书 殿), a hall of southwestern Shishin - the.
Jiju - the, the - SHOKYO and Seiryo - the
North of the Shishin - stood the Jiju - the (仁寿殿). This was a similarly constructed slightly smaller hall, which should act as a residential area of the emperor. With the beginning of the 9th century, however, the Emperor resided often in other buildings of the Dairi. A third even smaller hall, the SHOKYO - the (承 香殿), was north of the Jiju - along the main axis of the Dairi. After the Dairi was rebuilt after a fire in 960, moved the regular residential area of the emperor in the smaller Seiryo - the (清凉 殿), a -sighted to the east building, just northwest of the Shishin - the. Over time, the Seiryo - the became more and more used for meetings and the Emperor spent much of their time in this part of the palace. The busiest part of the building was the Tenjo no Ma (殿上 间), where high-ranking nobles met in the presence of the Emperor.
Koki - the, Jōnei - the - Reikei and the
The Empress, as well as official and unofficial emperor 's wives, lived in buildings in the north of the Dairi. The prestigious building for the Empress and the official imperial consorts were located in appropriate places according to the original Chinese architecture principles - the Koki - the (弘 徽 殿), the Reikei - the (丽景 殿) and the Jōnei - the (常 宁 殿) - or were located near the residence of the emperor in the Seiryo - the - the Koryo the (后 凉 殿) and the Fujitsubo (藤 壷).
The lower Emperor 's wives and maids occupied other buildings in the northern half of the Dairi.
Unmei - the
The Imperial replica of the sacred Yata no Kagami mirror throne as one of the insignia of Japan was located in the Unmei - (温 明 殿) of the Dairi.
Today's Kyoto Gosho
The current Kyoto Gosho is located on what was the northeast corner of Heian - kyō before, and received large parts of the Heian time after Dairi, in particular the Shishin - the and - the Seiryo.
History
The palace was the first and most important structure built in the new capital of Heian - kyō, when the farm was 794 installed at the behest of Emperor KamMus there. The palace was not yet fully completed at the time of the move. The Daigokuden has already been completed in 795, and the government office that oversaw its construction, was 805 dissolved.
The large complexes in the Chinese style of Chodo -in, and Buraku - in were pretty early no longer used, in parallel with the decline of the Chinese -inspired ritsuryō government processes and bureaucracy, which were piece by piece either abolished or had only a symbolic function. The power center of the palace complex shifted in the Dairi, and the Shishin - or the later Seiryo - the replaced the Daigokuden as a place for the performance of official government business.
In parallel with the concentration of power in the Dairi of the outer region of the Greater Palace was increasingly seen as unsafe, especially at night. One reason may be the prevailing superstition of the period to be uninhabited buildings for fear of spirits were shunned and even the great Buraku -in- complex was considered cursed. On top of that, the security level of the palace plummeted, so that with the Yomei - mon apparently only a palace gate was guarded in the early 11th century. Thus were burglaries and even violent crimes inside the palace to the problem in the first half of the 11th century.
Fires were a constant problem, since the palace complex was built almost completely of wood. The Daigokuden was built despite its limited use after fires 876, 1068 and 1156 again. After the great fire of 1177, in which a large part of the Greater Palace burned down, the Daigokuden was never rebuilt.
From 960 the Dairi was also repeatedly destroyed by fire, but always systematically rebuilt until the late 12th century and used as the official residence of the emperor. During this period, the new directions of the Dairi, the emperor often had to move within the city to second palaces Sato - Dairi (里 内 里). Often these secondary palaces were provided by the powerful Fujiwara family, which virtually controlled the policy, especially in the late Heian period, by put the consorts of the emperor. That is why the residences of the imperial maternal grandparents were suitable before the end of the Heian period to the residential role of the actual palace. The institution of the rule of the abdicated Emperor - The InseI system (院 政) - from 1086 to bore her to the demise of the palace as a center of power in, as the Emperor abdicated in and outside the city exercised their power from their own palaces.
From the fire of 1177, the original palace complex was abandoned and the Emperor resided in smaller palaces - the previous Sato - Dairi - within the city and in villas outside this. 1227 another fire destroyed what remained of the Dairi and the Greater Palace has been completely abandoned. 1334, Emperor Go- Daigo, a decree of the Greater Palace wiederzuerrichten, but there were no resources available and the project fizzled. The current Kyoto Gosho is just west of Tsuchimikado -dono (土 御 门 殿), the great Fujiwara residence in the northeast corner of the city.
Historical Sources
While the palace itself was completely destroyed, a significant amount was taken from information on this from contemporary and almost contemporary sources. The palace served as the backdrop for many fictional and non- fictional Heian - time literary texts. These provide important information about the palace, there held courtly ceremonies and processes, as well as everyday tasks of living there or working courtiers. Examples are the Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibu, the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and the Chronicle Eiga Monogatari. In addition, certain Emakimono (sometimes fictional ) scenes that take place in the palace, as the Genji Monogatari Emaki from around 1130. Finally, there are partially damaged contemporary maps of the palace from the 10th and 12th centuries, the structure and function of the building show in Dairi.
Mainly since the late 1970s archaeological excavations took place, released the full details. In particular, the existence and location of buildings such as the Buraku - in could be compared with contemporary documentary sources.