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Nara, was the Imperial Palace of Japan (710-784 AD), during most of the
Nara Period. The remains of the palace, and the surrounding area, was established as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in
1998 along with a number of other buildings and area, as the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara."
After
Empress Genmei's succession to Imperial Throne in 707, there was much discussion around the transfer of the palace. A year later, a rescript was issued deciding on the move to Nara. In 710, the new capital officially takes over, but the completion of the palace had to wait further. (Written Heijō (平城) but also pronounced Nara at the time, the land gains its synonym, Nanto (南都, 'Southern Capital') as opposed to Kyoto, the capital in the North, centuries later.)
The city, and the palace grounds, was based largely on
Chang'an (present-day
Xi'an), the capital of
China during the
T'ang Dynasty, which was contemporary to the time when Nara was capital of Japan. Chang'an was in turn, like many ancient East Asian cities, based on a complex system of beliefs & laws of geomancy. This dictated the grid system of streets, as well as the necessity for spiritually protective shrines or temples to be placed at particular cardinal directions around the city.
In accordance with this system, the Palace was placed at the northern end, on an extended line from Suzaku Street, the main thoroughfare running north-south straight through the center of the city. The street ended at the
Suzaku-mon, depicted above, and the rest of the Palace buildings were then placed beyond to the north of this gate. The primary buildings of the Palace compound were the Daigoku-den, where governmental affairs were conducted, the Chōdō-in where formal ceremonies were held, the Dairi, the Emperor's residence, and offices for various administrative agencies. The foundations or footprints of these buildings are still visible on the site.
There was a former and a later palace.
When the capital was moved to Heian-kyō (now called
Kyoto), Nara's Imperial Palace was simply abandoned. Over the ensuing centuries, the ravages of time and the elements slowly destroyed the buildings, until by the beginning of the
Kamakura Period in the late 12th century there was practically nothing left above ground. However, those sections that lay underground were preserved, and re-discovered by modern archaeologists.
While the site was designated Special Historical Site by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 1952, archaeological efforts headed by National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, such as excavations are continuing since 1959. The Suzaku-mon and Tou-in Garden have been restored and opened to public in 1998. In addition, the restoration of the First
Daigoku-den is ongoing since 2001.
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