Imperial Women and the Lost Palaces of Kyoto — 17th century

Historical focus: 17th century. Dates describe the main subject, not the publication date; later afterlives may also appear.

Kyoto's imperial architecture cannot be reconstructed only through the residence of the reigning emperor. Empresses, imperial consorts, retired imperial women and princesses maintained their own households and residences. Many of those palaces disappeared. Some survive only through buildings moved elsewhere.

Tōfukumon-in

Tōfukumon-in Masako, daughter of Tokugawa Hidetada and consort of Emperor Go-Mizunoo, maintained a separate Nyoin Palace in Kyoto. The complete complex no longer survives. But part of it does. The Kyakuden now standing at Shugakuin Imperial Villa was built in 1677 as part of Tōfukumon-in's Nyoin Palace and was used for private audiences. It was moved to Shugakuin in 1682. A lost palace can therefore survive through displaced architecture.

Princess Teruko

Shugakuin also preserves Rakushiken, associated with Princess Teruko, daughter of Emperor Emeritus Go-Mizunoo. The villa accumulated buildings associated with several members of the dynasty.

The Palace as Network

The reigning emperor, retired emperor, empress, nyoin and imperial princesses could each generate separate households and residences. Kyoto's court was therefore not one palace. It was a network of overlapping imperial residences.

Why It Matters

Women's residences are especially vulnerable to disappearing from palace history because their buildings were frequently rebuilt, transferred or absorbed into later institutions. Royal Palaces follows provenance through surviving fabric, not only surviving sites.