Japan — A History of Imperial Palaces — 7th–20th centuries

Historical focus: 7th–20th centuries. Dates describe the main subject, not the publication date; later afterlives may also appear.

Japanese imperial architecture cannot be reduced to the European idea of a royal palace. At Fujiwara and Heijō, the palace formed the political centre of a planned capital and contained the emperor's residence, audience halls, state halls and government offices. Kyoto created a different pattern. The original Heian palace disappeared, but the imperial institution survived through rebuilding and relocation. The current Kyoto Imperial Palace site served the emperors from 1331 until the move to Tokyo in 1869, and most present buildings date from the 1855 reconstruction.

Kyoto Sentō Imperial Palace and Kyoto Ōmiya Imperial Palace reveal a parallel hierarchy for the retired emperor and his consort. Katsura Imperial Villa, built by Princes Toshihito and Toshitada from 1615 onward, represents the imperial-princely villa tradition. Shugakuin, built for Emperor Emeritus Go-Mizunoo from 1656 to 1659, dissolves the palace into landscape through its Upper, Middle and Lower Villas.

In 1868 the former Edo Castle became the Tokyo Imperial Palace. The moats and territorial scale of the Tokugawa stronghold acquired a new imperial meaning. The current ceremonial palace building, Kyūden, was completed in 1968, while the private Imperial Residence occupies the Fukiage area. Japan's palace history therefore depends less on one building surviving intact than on the continuity of the institution. Palaces move, burn, rebuild and inherit the sites of previous regimes. The imperial court continues.