the power of the Yamato Court, Emperor Genmei decided to move the capital from Fujiwarakyō, near Asuka, to Heijōkyō, a site considered ideal according to Chinese principles of geomancy. The move, accomplished in only two years, was facilitated by dismantling the existing palace and reusing the lumber.
Model of an ornamental roof tile used on a corner of the roof of the second Daigokuden. The tile is called onigawara (tile with a "devil" face). The face shown here is a good devil, whose job was to frighten away bad devils that caused fire, lightning, wind, and other damage to buildings.
The City
In 708, when the emperor decided to move the capital to Heijōkyō (kyō means capital), the people living in the area had to be relocated. Hills had to be leveled and valleys filled in, with much of the work done by conscripted farmers working with hand tools. The work was so difficult that many attempted to escape and return home. Heijōkyō, modeled after the Chinese capital of Ch'angan, occupied an area 5.9 kilometers from east to west and 4.8 kilometers from north to south; 1.2 square kilometers were allotted for the palace. For materials, they moved lumber and tile from the Fujiwara palace, supplemented by timbers brought from neighboring prefectures on rafts floated down the river to the nearby town of Kizu. Stone was quarried at Nijōzan, a mountain near the present Nara City, and tile was manufactured at kilns near the new capital.
Heijōkyō was a good-sized city with an estimated population of around 100,000. The city was divided into squares, with streets running north and south and avenues running east and west. Heijōkyū, the palace compound, was placed at the northern end of the capital, as in Ch'angan, the capital of Tang China, and was enclosed by a 5-meter-high fence. The main street of the capital was a 74-meter-wide thoroughfare, Suzaku Ōji, which ran from Suzakumon, the main palace gate, to Rajōmon, a gate at the southern entrance of the capital. Outside the palace compound were temples, houses, and the east and west market areas. Commerce was allowed only in the market areas, controlled by the government, which brought goods in via canals and the Akishino River, which passed by the west market.
Except for several short-lived moves to other cities, Heijōkyō remained the capital of Japan for 74 years until the capital was moved to Nagaokakyō in 784 and then to Heiankyō (Kyoto) in 794 where it remained for around 1,000 years.
Plan of Heijōkyō
1 Palace Compound
2 Fujiwara-no-fuhito Mansion (site of Hokkeji)
3 Nagaya-ō Mansion
4 Tōdaiji Temple
5 Kōfukuji Temple
6 Gangōji Temple
7 Daianji Temple
8 Saidaiji Temple
9 Tōshōdaiji Temple
10 Yakushiji Temple
11 West Market
12 East Market
13 Suzakumon Gate
14 Rajōmon Gate
The Palace
The main buildings in the palace area were the Daigokuden (Hall of State), in which national events such as coronation ceremonies and meetings with foreign delegations took place, and the Chōdōin (government offices). These buildings were Chinese in style, constructed on raised platforms, some of which were faced with brick or stone. Vermilion colored posts supporting the large tiled roof rested on foundation stones. Some of the bays between these posts were open, while others were closed in with white plastered walls.
To the north of the Daigokuden, inside a fenced area, was the Dairi, the emperor's living quarters. Although there is little detailed information about palaces and aristocratic mansions from this period, they seem to have been constructed in the indigenous Japanese style, consisting of a large, undivided central area (moya), part of which was enclosed by walls or doors, with the rest open to one or more raised verandas that were sometimes covered with their own roofs to form extensions known as hisashi. The floor was raised and planked, and the bark roof was either hipped or hipped-and-gable. The main posts were sunk in the ground in the hottatebashira fashion used since prehistoric times, rather than resting on foundation stones. These aristocratic residences developed into Shinden style mansions in the following Heian Period.
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