ABSTRACT

In 784 the Emperor Kwammu removed his Court from Nara to Nagaoka, but as the new site shortly became distasteful to him he decided to transport the capital again in 793 and selected another locality in the neighbourhood to which he gave the name of HeiankyS, or the capital of peace and tranquillity, though it became more commonly known as Ky5to, that is simply the capital. This time the change was permanent: a new city was constructed on the model of Chang-An, the imperial residence of the T'ang dynasty in China, and continued to be the official metropolis of Japan until 1868. From the end of the eighth to the end of the twelfth century-that is, until the rise of Kamakura-it was also the centre of Japanese Buddhism, though Nara occasionally endeavoured to assert its claims.