The Heian period

The gardens and architecture of the Heian period (794-1185) reflect, in the first half of the period, the processes of Japanese remterpretation of Chinese cul ture and. m the latter half, the results of us complete assimilation

In 794. at the command of Emperor Kammu, the capital of Japan was moved to Heian-kyo (present-day Kyoto). It remained m this "Capital of Peace and Tran quility" until 1868. when it moved to Edo, which was in turn renamed Tokyo. "Capital of the East".

The grid layout structuring both the imperial resi dence and the city as a whole is derived from Heian-kyo's great - and considerably larger - Chinese model, Changan, which was the capital of China under the Sui and T'ang dynasties from 583 to 904 The rules of Chinese geomancy also dictated Heian-kyo's siting and geographical orientation within the natural landscape The same rules governed the gardens within the impe-nal palace complex and the palaces of the nobility.