Heian Palace
The Heian Palace ( Japanese 平安 宮 , Heian-kyū ), also Daidairi ( 大 内 裏 ), was between 794 and 1227 the imperial palace of Heian-kyō (today: Kyōto ), the capital of Japan at that time . The palace served as the imperial residence and administrative center of Japan for much of the Heian period (794–1185). According to Chinese models, it was located in the northern center of the capital.
The palace consisted of a large rectangular walled wall with various ceremonial and administrative buildings, including the government ministries. This contained the separate walling of the emperor's living area and the inner palace Dairi . In addition to the emperor's apartments, the dairy housed the residences of the imperial wives and certain official and ceremonial buildings that were closely linked to the person of the emperor.
The palace's original role was the manifestation of the model of centralized government adopted from China in the 7th century - the Daijō-kan and its eight subordinate ministries. The palace should be an appropriate place for the seat of the emperor as well as the regulation of important state affairs and the accompanying ceremonies. While the function of the imperial seat continued into the 12th century, the buildings for regulating state affairs were no longer used in the 9th century. This was due, on the one hand, to the abolition of various legally prescribed ceremonies and procedures and the relocation of the remaining ceremonies to the smaller framework of the inner palace.
From the middle of the Heian period onwards, the palace suffered multiple fires and other disasters. During the reconstruction, the emperor and some offices had to reside outside the palace. This and the general loss of power of the court led to a further weakening of the palace as an administrative center. When the palace burned down again in 1227, it was therefore not rebuilt. The area was built over, so that hardly any traces remained. Knowledge of the palace therefore comes from contemporary literary sources, graphs, paintings, and limited excavations, mostly carried out since the late 1970s.
location
The palace was located in the northern center of the rectangular Heian-kyō, which, like the two previous capitals Heijō-kyō and Nagaoka-kyō, was based on the Chinese model of the Tang capital Chang'an .
The southeast corner of the Daidairi was in the middle of today's Nijō Castle .
The main entrance to the palace was the Suzaku-mon ( 35 ° 0 '49 " N , 135 ° 44' 32" O ) as the northern end of the central Suzaku-Ōji ( 朱雀大路 ), the at the southern end RaJo-mon was. The palace therefore faced south and was enthroned over the symmetrically laid out Heian-kyō. In addition to the suzaku-mon, there were 13 other gates symmetrically along the walls. Main streets ( 大路 , ōji ) led to each of the gates, with the exception of the three at the north end of the palace, which also formed the north end of the city.
construction
The Daidairi or outer palace was a walled-in rectangular area of about 1.4 km in north-south direction between the first and second east-west main street ( 一条 大路 , ichijō ōji and 二条 大路 , nijō ōji ) and 1,2 km in east-west direction between Nishi-Ōmiya-ōji ( 西 大 宮 大路 ) and Ōmiya-ōji ( 大 宮 大路 ).
The three main building complexes in Daidairi were:
- the Chōdō-in ( 朝堂 院 ),
- the buraku-in ( 豊 楽 院 ) and
- the Dairi ( 内 裏 ).
Chōdō-in
The Chōdō-in was a rectangular wall just north of the Suzaku-mon. It was based on Chinese models and architectural styles. Archaeological evidence shows that this building complex was also present in earlier palaces and has hardly changed since the 7th century. The entrance to the Chōdō-in was the Ōten-mon.
The main building in Chōdō-in was the Daigoku-den ( 大 極 殿 ) - the Great Audience Hall - facing south at the northern end of the complex. It was a Chinese-style building about 50 feet from east to west and 20 meters from north to south, with white walls, vermilion columns, and green tile roofs. The most important state ceremonies and functions should take place here. Today's Heian-jingū in Kyōto contains a presumably faithful reconstruction of the Daigoku-den on a reduced scale.
At the southern end of the Chōdō-in were the 12 halls in which the official apparatus was placed in a strict hierarchy during ceremonies.
The accession to the throne took place in the Chōdō-in, where the emperor sat before the morning meetings of the bureaucratic apparatus on important state affairs, received the monthly reports from the officials, held the New Year's greetings and received foreign ambassadors. However, in 810 the practice of morning consultations was discontinued, as was the monthly reports. Foreign ambassadors were not received during most of the Heian period and the New Year's greetings were also abbreviated at the end of the 10th century and moved to the dairy, so that only the accession to the throne and certain Buddhist ceremonies were held in the Chōdō-in.
Buraku-in
The Buraku-in was another rectangular Chinese building west of the Chōdō-in. Official celebrations and banquets were held here, as well as other forms of entertainment such as archery competitions. Like the Chōdō-in, the Buraku-in had a hall at the central, northern end of the area to monitor the courtyard. This hall, the buraku-den ( 豊 楽 殿 ), was used by the emperor and courtiers to oversee the activities of the buraku-in. Like the Chōdō-in, the Buraku-in fell out of use with the relocation of many functions to the Dairi. The site is one of the few within the palace area that has been excavated.
En no Matsubara, Daijō-kan and Shingon-in
In addition to the Dairi, the remaining area of the Daidairi was occupied by the various ministries, offices, workshops, warehouses and a large open space east of the Dairi, the En no Matsubara ( 宴 の 松原 , German "pine grove of the banquets").
The buildings of the Daijō-kan ( 太 政 官 ) were in a wall, directly east of the Chōdō-in, were symmetrically arranged with an opening to the south.
The palace also housed the Shingon-in ( 真言 院 ), which was the only permitted Buddhist institution in the capital, along with the Tō-ji and the Sai-ji . Its placement to the right of the dairy shows the influence of the Shingon-shu during the early Heian period.
Dairi
The Dairi or inner palace was located northeast of the Chōdō-in, a little east of the central north-south axis of the Daidairi. The main feature was the throne room. The dairy contained the kokyu : the emperor's apartments and the pavilions of the imperial wives and chambermaids. The dairy was surrounded by two rows of walls. In addition to the Dairi itself, the outer walls enclosed some offices, warehouses and the Chūwa-in ( 中 和 院 ), a walled area of Shintō buildings belonging to the religious function of the emperor , in the west of the Dairi and in the geographical center of the Daidairi. The main gate of the outer wall, the kenrei-mon ( 建 礼 門 ), was on the southern wall along the central north-south axis of the dairy.
The actual dairy - the emperor's living area - was in another row of walls east of the Chūwa-in. This measured about 215 m in north-south and 170 m in east-west direction. The main gate was the Shōmei-mon ( 承 明 門 ) in the middle of the inner southern wall and directly north of the Kenrei-mon. In contrast to the ornate architecture of the Chōdō-in and Buraku-in official buildings in the Chinese style, the Dairi was built in the more domestic Japanese style, albeit on a large scale. The Dairi was a variant of the Shinden style used at the time for buildings of the nobility . The unpainted buildings with shingled gable roofs made of cypress wood were erected on raised wooden platforms and connected by slightly elevated passages. There were pebble yards and small gardens between the buildings.
Shishin-den
The largest building in the Dairi was the Shishin-den ( 紫宸 殿 ) or throne room reserved for official functions . This was a rectangular hall, which measured about 30 m in east-west and 25 m in north-south direction. It was located along the central north-south axis of the Dairi and overlooked the rectangular courtyard in the direction of the Shōmei-mon. An orange ( tachibana ) and a cherry tree ( sakura ) stood symmetrically along both sides of the front stairs. The courtyard was flanked on either side by smaller halls connected to the shishin; a building arrangement influenced by Chinese examples, which was also found in the noble Shinden style villas of this time.
The Shishin-den was used for official functions and ceremonies that were not held in the Daigoku-den of the Chōdō-in. It took over many of the planned functions of the larger and more formal building from early on, as by the early 9th century day-to-day government operations were no longer carried out in the presence of the emperor in Daigoku-den. Linked to this fading reliance on official government procedures, as described in the 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 located in the Kyōshō-den ( 校 書 殿 ), a hall southwest of the Shishin-den.
Jijū-den, Shōkyō-den and Seiryō-den
To the north of the Shishin-den stood the Jijū-den ( 仁寿殿 ). This was a similarly constructed, somewhat smaller hall that was to function as the emperor's living area. By the beginning of the 9th century, however, the emperors often resided in other buildings on the Dairi. A third, even smaller hall, the Shōkyō-den ( 承 香殿 ), was located north of the Jijū-den along the main axis of the Dairi. After the Dairi 960 was rebuilt after a fire, the emperor's regular living quarters moved to the smaller Seiryō-den ( 清涼 殿 ), an east-facing building directly northwest of Shishin-den. Over time, the seiryō-den became more and more popular for meetings and the emperors spent much of their time in this part of the palace. The busiest part of this building was the Tenjō no Ma ( 殿上 間 ), where high-ranking nobles met in the presence of the emperor.
Koki-den, Jōnei-den and Reikei-den
The empress, as well as the official and unofficial imperial wives, lived in buildings in the north of the Dairi. The most prestigious buildings for the empress and the official imperial wives were located in suitable locations according to the original Chinese architectural principles - the Koki-den ( 弘 徽 殿 ), the Reikei-den ( 麗景 殿 ) and the Jōnei-den ( 常 寧 殿 ) - or were near the emperor's residence in the Seiryō-den - the Kōryō-den ( 後 涼 殿 ) and the Fujitsubo ( 藤 壷 ).
The lower imperial wives and chambermaids occupied other buildings in the northern half of the Dairi.
Avoid
The imperial replica of the sacred mirror Yata no Kagami as one of the throne insignia of Japan was in the Unmei-den ( 温 明 殿 ) of the Dairi.
Today's Kyōto Gosho
Today's Kyōto Gosho is located on what used to be the northeast corner of Heian-kyō, and mimics large parts of the Heian-era dairy, particularly the shishin-den and the seiryō-den.
history
The palace was the first and most important structure to be built in the new capital, Heian-kyō, when the court was moved there in 794 at the behest of Emperor Kammu . The palace was not completely finished at the time of the move. However, the Daigoku-den was completed in 795 and the government office that oversaw its establishment was dissolved in 805.
The large Chinese-style complexes of Chōdō-in and Buraku-in ceased to be used fairly early on, parallel to the decline of the Chinese-inspired Ritsuryō government processes and bureaucracy, which were gradually either abolished or only had symbolic functions. The power center of the palace complex shifted to the Dairi, and the Shishin-den or later the Seiryō-den replaced the Daigoku-den as a place for carrying out the official business of government.
In parallel with the concentration of power in the daidairi, the outside area of the daidairi was increasingly viewed as unsafe, especially at night. One reason for this may be the prevailing superstition of this era in which uninhabited buildings were avoided for fear of ghosts and even the large Buraku-in complex was viewed as cursed. In addition, the security level of the palace fell, so that in the early 11th century the yōmei-mon apparently only guarded one palace gate. As a result, break-ins and even violent crimes within the palace became a problem in the first half of the 11th century.
Fires were a constant problem as the palace complex was built almost entirely from wood. The Daigoku-den was rebuilt after fires 876, 1068 and 1156 despite its limited use. After the major fire of 1177, in which a large part of the Daidairi burned down, the Daigoku-den was never rebuilt.
From 960 the Dairi was also repeatedly destroyed by fire, but systematically rebuilt again and again until the late 12th century and used as the official residence of the emperor. During this period when the Dairi was rebuilt, the emperors often had to resort to secondary Sato-Dairi ( 里 内 裏 ) palaces within the city. Often these second palaces were provided by the powerful Fujiwara family , which, especially in the late Heian period, de facto controlled politics by providing the wives of the emperors. This is why the residences of the imperial grandparents on the mother's side appropriated the residential role of the actual palace before the end of the Heian period. The institution of the rule of the abdicated emperors - the insi system ( 院 政 ) - from 1086 onwards contributed to the decline of the palace as a center of power, as the abdicated emperors exercised their power from their own palaces inside and outside the city.
From the fire of 1177, the original palace complex was abandoned and the emperors resided in smaller palaces - the earlier Sato-Dairi - within the city and in villas outside it. In 1227 another fire destroyed what was left of the daidairi and the daidairi was completely abandoned. In 1334, Emperor Go-Daigo issued a decree to rebuild the Daidairi, but no resources were available and the project came to nothing. Today's Kyōto Gosho is located directly west of the Tsuchimikado-dono ( 土 御 門 殿 ), the large Fujiwara residence in the northeast corner of the city.
Historical sources
While the palace itself was being completely destroyed, a significant amount of information about it was extracted from contemporary and near-contemporary sources. The palace served as the backdrop for many fictional and non-fictional Heian-era literary texts. These give important information about the palace, the courtly ceremonies and processes held there, as well as everyday tasks of the courtiers living or working there. Examples of this are the Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibu , the pillow book by Sei Shōnagon and the Chronicle Eiga Monogatari . Additionally, certain emakimono (sometimes fictional) depict scenes that take place in the palace, such as the Genji Monogatari emaki from around 1130. Finally, there are partially damaged contemporary maps of the palace from the 10th and 12th centuries showing the structure and function of the buildings show in the Dairi.
Archaeological excavations have also taken place, mainly since the late 1970s, which revealed more information. In particular, the existence and location of buildings such as the Buraku-in could be compared with contemporary documentary sources.
See also
swell
- William Wayne: Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures. Issues on the Historical Archeology of Ancient Japan . University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu 1998, ISBN 0-8248-2030-4 .
- John W. Hall: Kyoto as Historical Background . In: John W. Hall, Jeffrey Mass (Eds.): Medieval Japan. Essays in Institutional History . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1974, ISBN 0-8047-1511-4 .
- William H. McCullough: The Heian court 794-1070. The capital and its society . In: Donald H. Shively, William H. McCullough (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Japan. Heian Japan . Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, ISBN 0-521-22353-9 .
- William H. McCullough, Helen Craig McCullough: A Tale of Flowering Fortunes . Vol. 2. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1980, ISBN 0-8047-1039-2 , Appendix B: The Greater Imperial Palace, pp. 833-854 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Maps from McCullough & McCullough (1980) pp. 834-835; Sizes from McCullough (1999) p. 103
- ↑ Hall (1974) pp. 11-12
- ↑ a b c d McCullough (1999) p. 111
- ^ A b c McCullough & McCullough (1980) pp. 836-837
- ↑ a b McCullough (1999) p. 40
- ↑ Hall (1974) p. 13
- ^ Plan des Dairi in McCullough & McCullough (1980) p. 840
- ↑ a b McCullough (1999) pp. 115-116
- ↑ McCullough & McCullough (1980) pp. 817-818
- ↑ a b c McCullough (1999) pp. 174-175
- ↑ McCullough & McCullough (1980) pp. 845-847
- ^ McCullough & McCullough (1980) p. 848
- ↑ Hall (1974) p. 7
- ↑ McCullough & McCullough (1980) pp. 849-850
- ↑ Hall (1974) p. 27
- ^ McCullough (1999) p. 175
- ↑ Farris (1998) p. 188
literature
- Atsuo Imaizumi ( 今 泉 篤 男 ): Kyōto no Rekishi . tape 1 . Gakugei Shorin, Tokyo 1970 (Japanese: 京都 の 歴 史 . According to McCullough (1999) the reference work on the palace. First of ten volumes.).
- Ivan Morris: The World of the Shining Prince. Court Life in Ancient Japan . Kodansha, New York 1994, ISBN 1-56836-029-0 (first edition 1964).
- Richard Arthur Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane: Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society, London . Vol. 21-22, 1941, pp. 107 ff .
- Richard Arthur Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane: Kyoto. The Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869 . The Ponsonby Memorial Society, Kyōto 1956 (revised new edition of the book Kyoto , published in 1931. Its history and vicissitudes since its foundation in 792 to 1868 , first published in article form between 1925-28).
