PHOTOGRAPHY

Places

Kansai

Kyoto

The Kyoto basin was first settled in teh 7th century, and by 794 it had become Heian-kyo, the capital of Japan. Like Nara, a previous capital, the city was laid out in a grid pattern modelled on the Chinese Tang dynasty capital Chang'an (contemporary Xi'an). Although the city was to serve as home to the Japanese imperial family from 794 to 1868 (when the Meiji Restoration took the imperial family to the new captial, Tokyo), the city was not always the focus of Japanese political power. During the Kamakura period (1185-13330, Kamakura served as the national capital, and during the Edo period (1600-1867), the Tokugawa shogunate ruled Japan from Edo (now Tokyo).

The problem was that from the 9th century, the imperial family was increasingly isolated from the mechanics of political power, and the country was ruled primarily by military families, or shogunates. While Kyoto still remained capital in name and was the cultural focus of the nation, imperial power was, for the most part, symbolic and the business of running state affairs was often carried out elsewhere.

Just as imperial fortunes that waxed and waned, the fortunes of the city itself have fluctuated dramatically. During the Onin War(1466-67), which marked the close of the Muromachi period, the Kyoto Gosho (Imperial Palace) and most of the city was destroyed. Much of what can be seen in Kyoto today dates from the Edo period (1600-1867). Although political power resided in Edo, Kyoto was rebuilt and flourished as a cultural, religious and economic center. Fortunately Kyoto was spared the aerial bombing that razed other Japanese urban centers in the closing months of WWII.

Kanto

Kamakura

Kamakura was the captial of Japan from 1185 to 1333. In the tenth century, the power of the emperor in Kyoto was largely ceremonial; real power had for some time rested in the hands of the Fujiwara clan. As the power of the Fujiwara declined, the Taira clan, led by Taira Kiyomori, and the Minamoto clan, led by Minamoto Yoshitomo, began an all-out struggle for supreme power. In 1159 the Taira routed the Minamoto forces.

Although many executions foolowed, by chance Yoshitomo's third son's life was spared and the boy was sent to spend his days in an Izu-hanto temple. As soon as the boy, Minamoto Yoritomo, was old enough, he began to gather support for a counter-attack on his clan's old rivals. In 1180 he set up his base at Kamakura, an area far away from the debilitating influences of Kyoto court life, close to other clans loyal to the Minamoto and, being enclosed by the sea on one side and by densely wooded hills on the others, easy to defend.

With a series of victories over the Taira behind him, Minamoto Yoritomo was appointed shogun in 1192; he governed Japan from Kamakura. When he died without an heir, however, power passed to the Hojo, the family of Yoritomo's wife.

The Hojo clan ruled Japan from Kamakura for more than a century until in 1333, weakened by the cost of maintaining defences against threats of attack from Kublai Khan in China, the Hojo clan was defeated by Emperor Go-Daigo, Kyoto once again became capital.