Heijō Palace: Imperial Residence and Government Center of Nara
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.1
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Japan
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Yamato
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Palace
On this page18 sections
History
Heijō Palace in Nara, Japan, was the imperial residence and administrative center of Heijō-kyō, the capital established in 710 during the Nara period. Planned largely according to Chinese models, it housed the emperor, government offices, and ceremonial spaces in the north-central part of the capital.
Establishing Heijō-kyō
In 707, one year after Empress Genmei came to the throne, an imperial order called for the capital to move from Fujiwara-kyō near Asuka to the northern edge of the Nara Basin. Heijō-kyō was formally established in 710, although construction of the palace continued afterward. The capital was written as Heijō and was also pronounced Nara.
The new capital followed the model of Chang’an, the Tang-dynasty capital of China. Its streets formed a grid shaped in part by geomantic principles, with shrines and temples placed in directions believed to provide spiritual protection. The city measured about 6 kilometers from east to west and 5 kilometers from north to south. Heijō Palace occupied its northern end, where it stood on the northward continuation of Suzaku Street, the principal north-south avenue.
Government and imperial rule
Heijō Palace embodied the centralized government that Japan had adopted and adapted from China during the seventh century. At its center was the Daijō-kan, the central council of the classical imperial government, supported by eight subordinate ministries. The palace provided the setting for the emperor’s residence, state administration, official ceremonies, and the work of these government departments.
The palace included the Daigoku-den, or Great Hall of State, for governmental affairs; the Chōdō-in, an official audience and ceremonial compound; the Dairi, or Inner Palace, where the emperor lived; and offices for administrative agencies. These areas were enclosed within the larger palace precinct and were repeatedly altered as the capital developed.
Relocations under Emperor Shōmu
Between 740 and 745, Emperor Shōmu moved the capital several times, including to Kuni-kyō and Shigaraki Palace. The imperial buildings and government offices at Heijō Palace were substantially transformed during this period. Buildings in the imperial and governmental compounds were repeatedly replaced or renovated as the capital was moved and later restored to Heijō-kyō.
After the return from Shigaraki, a new audience hall was built in the eastern part of the palace, south of the imperial residential compound. This later hall belonged to the final phase of the Nara-period palace and reflected the continuing reorganization of its official spaces.
Abandonment and rediscovery
When the capital moved to Heian-kyō, the later capital now known as Kyoto, Heijō Palace was abandoned. Some structures were transferred to the new capital, while others disappeared through fires and other disasters. The former palace grounds were subsequently used for agriculture, and by the beginning of the Kamakura period in the late twelfth century, almost nothing remained above ground. Subsurface remains were preserved and later rediscovered through archaeological investigation.
Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs designated the site a Special Historic Site in 1952. The Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties began continuing research at the palace in 1959, and excavations at the site began in the 1970s. The excavated remains of Heijō Palace and its surrounding area became part of the UNESCO World Heritage designation of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara in 1998.
The Suzaku Gate and East Palace Garden were reconstructed in 1998, with the Takenaka Corporation principally responsible for the work. Large-scale reconstruction based on archaeological excavations and contemporary literary sources began in the 2000s. The First Great Hall was reconstructed between 2001 and 2010 and restored for the 2010 Heijo Relocation 1300 Year Festival, when Heijō Palace served as the principal venue. Research continues, and the palace remains, reconstructed buildings, and Nara Palace Site Museum together present the history of the former capital and its government.
Remains
Palace enclosure and ceremonial approach
Heijō Palace was organized as a large rectangular walled enclosure called the Greater Palace, or daidairi, which contained ceremonial buildings, government ministries, and the separately walled Inner Palace. The Greater Palace extended north to south between the first and second major east-west avenues and east to west between the principal north-south avenues. Large earthen walls enclosed it, with twelve gates providing access to the precinct.
Suzaku Street and Suzaku Gate
Suzaku Street ran through the center of Heijō-kyō and ended at the palace entrance. It was approximately 75 meters wide and extended about 3.7 kilometers from the Rajō Gate to the palace. The palace’s southern open space formed part of this approach, while Nijō-Ōji, the second major avenue, ran east to west before the gate and measured about 37 meters across.
Suzaku Gate was the palace’s principal entrance and largest gate. Built on a platform, it probably stood two stories high and measured approximately 10 by 25 by 22 meters. The open area before it hosted ceremonies, including New Year celebrations. The gate was reconstructed in 1998.
Southern avenues and gates
Second Street ran east to west along the southern side of the palace precinct. At approximately 35 meters wide, it was the second-largest thoroughfare after Suzaku Street. Suzaku Gate, Mibu Gate, and Wakainukai Gate opened onto it, while state offices and detached residences stood immediately to the south outside the palace grounds.
During the latter half of the Nara period, the Great Hall of State and the Halls of State compound moved to the eastern sector of the precinct. After this change, Mibu Gate effectively became the main entrance to the palace.
State and ceremonial buildings
Chōdō-in
The Chōdō-in was a rectangular, walled audience and ceremonial compound directly north of Suzaku Gate, at the center of the Greater Palace’s southern wall. It followed Chinese architectural models. Archaeological evidence indicates that comparable compounds had existed in earlier palaces, with a relatively stable design reaching back to the seventh century.
Former Great Hall of State
The former Great Hall of State, or Daigokuden, stood at the northern end of the official compound and faced south. It measured approximately 20 by 44 by 27 meters. The building was probably a two-story Chinese-style structure with a hipped-and-gabled roof and an open front facade without doors.
The Nara-period appearance of the hall was reconstructed from inferred pillar positions found through remains at Kuni-kyō, comparisons with surviving buildings such as the main hall of Hōryū-ji and the eastern pagoda of Yakushi-ji, and the audience hall shown in the Illustrated Scroll of Annual Events and Ceremonies. The reconstructed building uses Japanese cypress. Its pillars and beams are vermilion, its walls are white, and its roof is covered with ceramic tiles.
Interior paintings show the Tiger, Horse, and Ox from the Chinese zodiac, together with floral ceiling patterns. The painter Atsushi Uemura created them from designs based on the Nara period. At the center of the hall stands Takamikura, the ceremonial imperial throne representing the emperor’s office during state rituals such as enthronements and New Year observances. Its reconstructed form draws on historical and literary materials, the Taishō-era throne in Kyoto Imperial Palace, and designs associated with the Shōsōin repository.
Office of Foods
The area north of the Great Hall of State is believed to have contained the Office of Foods. It stored foods other than rice paid as tax and supplied meals for state banquets and palace rituals. The compound was arranged around a large roofed well, with office and storehouse buildings beside it.
Numerous eating utensils were excavated from the area. A rubbish pit belonging to the office produced the first inscribed wooden tablet recovered from Heijō Palace, found in 1961.
Imperial and eastern compounds
Later audience hall
The later audience hall occupied the eastern part of the palace, south of the imperial domicile. Archaeological traces of its platform and the eastern state halls were still visible during the Meiji era. The architectural-history researcher Sekino Tadashi identified the site, while the local gardener Tanada Kajuro worked on a public effort to protect it.
Imperial domicile and cedar-lined well
The imperial domicile was the residential and working area of the emperor and empress, where they also received visitors. A roofed walkway enclosed the compound, and an earthen wall divided it lengthwise. The Office of the Court Ladies stood within the same area.
A stone-paved section of the domicile contained a large well discovered in 1973. Its lining was a solid cedar tube carved from a log about 1.7 meters in diameter. The water was probably reserved for the emperor and empress. The remains were reburied, and the surrounding wall was reconstructed with new materials as an outdoor exhibit.
Office of the Imperial Household compound
East of the imperial domicile stood the compound thought to have housed the Office of the Imperial Household. An earthen wall enclosed an area approximately 90 meters from north to south and 50 meters from east to west. Six buildings occupied the compound. The principal building had a tiled roof, while the others were roofed with cypress bark. The buildings were reconstructed from archaeological findings and Nara-period construction techniques.
East Palace Garden
Excavations in 1967 revealed a large garden in the southeastern corner of the palace. The East Palace Garden covered approximately 100 by 80 meters, with several buildings arranged around a curving pond.
The garden was first laid out in the Chinese style of the early Nara period and later modified in a Japanese style during the late Nara period. The Jewelled Hall of the East Palace stood nearby and was built under Empress Shōtoku for banquets. The garden was reconstructed in 1998.
