Kyoto

a prefecture of Japan, located in the central part of the island of Honshu. Part of the important Kansai economic region. Area, 4,600 sq km. Population, 2.2 million (1970). Out of the total gainfully employed population (1 million persons in 1967), 33 percent were employed in manufacturing, 22 percent in trade, 10 percent in the service sphere, and 12 percent in agriculture. The main city and administrative center is Kyoto.

Much of the prefecture’s landscape consists of uplands, with elevations of 500–700 m prevailing.

In the past the prefecture was famous for its well-developed handicrafts and artisan industry that specialized in manufacturing luxury goods. Among the prefecture’s present-day well-developed industries are machine building, including electrical machine building and the production of transport equipment (24.8 percent of the value of the prefecture’s industrial production in 1968), textiles (25.5 percent), food and condiments (12 percent), and chemicals (11 percent). Agricultural production is concentrated mainly in the lowlands in the southern and northern parts of the prefecture. The chief crops are rice (with a planted area of 36,000 hectares and a harvest of 145,000 tons), barley, and wheat. In the south there is fruit growing and tea growing (Uji region). Lumbering and charcoal-making have developed in the central part. The commercial port of Maizuru is in the northern part of the prefecture.

(Japanese, literally “capital city”), a city in Japan, in the central part of the island of Honshu; an important economic center of the nation.

Kyoto is located in the Yamashiro basin, 10 km from Lake Biwa, with which it is connected by a navigable canal. It is the administrative center of the prefecture of Kyoto. Population, 1.4 million (1970). Kyoto is also a transportation junction. It is the center of traditional handicraft production specializing in the making of lacquered and bronze articles, porcelain, goods from natural silk, embroidered items, and religious articles. Manufacturing is an important industry; the main branches are machine building (primarily electrical machine building and the production of farm machinery) and metallurgy (more than 35 percent of the value of the city’s industrial output) and textiles (28 percent). Among the other industries are clothing, food and condiments, and glass and ceramics.

Kyoto is the cultural center of southwestern Japan, with two of the oldest universities, a medical academy, art schools, and an applied arts school. Kyoto has a national museum, a museum of modern art, municipal, commercial, and textile museums, and the Nishijin Museum. There is a botanical garden with an extensive collection of plants. The city is an international tourist center.

Kyoto is one of the ancient capitals of the nation and a historical and religious center. The city was built in the years 792–794 and was called Heian from 794 to 1192. Until 1868 it was officially considered the capital and was the residence of the emperors.

Kyoto’s plan is based on the regular layout of the medieval capital. Numerous medieval structures have survived, including the Toji Temple (eighth to 17th centuries; altar sculptures from the ninth century) and the monasteries of Saihoji (14th century), Tenryuji (14th century), Ryoanji (15th century), Daigoji (ninth to 16th centuries), Daitokuji (14th to 17th centuries), Nanzenji (13th to 17th centuries), and Nishi Honganji (end of the 16th century to beginning of the 17th; paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries) with gardens of moss, sand, and stones and landscape gardens. Some of the other medieval structures are the pavilions of Kinkaku (Golden Pavilion, 14th century, restored in 1953) with a landscape garden and Ginkaku (Silver Pavilion; end of the 15th century) with the Togudo Tea Pavilion (1486) and sand and landscape gardens. There is also the imperial palace complex (restored in 1789 in the style of the ninth century), including the Shishinden ceremonial hall and the Seiryoden apartments with sand gardens; the Nijo Palace (Nijo; 17th century, paintings from the 17th century); and the Katsura palace ensemble (1620’s) with numerous pavilions (including the Syokintei [“Lute Pine”] Tea Pavilion, 17th century) and landscape gardens. Among 20th-century structures are the post office (1954; Kosaka Hideo, architect), the Kyoto Kaikan city cultural center (1950’s; Mayokawa Kunio, architect), and the international conference hall (1963; Otani Sachio, architect). The Phoenix Temple (1052), which is part of the Byodo-in ensemble, is located near Kyoto, in Uji.