Historical Names for Kyōto

[Marc Keane]

Dear Colleagues;

I have a question that concerns the historical names used to refer to the city we now call Kyōto. There have been many over the years, and what I am trying to determine is which name would have been the most common for the people of the time to use when referring to the city in each of the following periods:

PERIODS

  Heian

  Kamakura

  Muromachi

  Momoyama

  Edo

  Meiji

NAMES

  京（きょう）

  都（みやこ）

  洛（らく）

  京（けい）

  京都（きょうと）

  平安（へいあん）

Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

Marc Keane

   Garden Designer/Researcher, Kyoto

[Tim Screech]

My understanding is that the city was always called Miyako (written either 京 or 都) until Edo when it was called Kyō. Note that this is ‘called’ i.e . spoken language. Heian was written only, so was Raku though that was only used in combination, eg 洛外. In Edo times literally types wrote 京師 pronounced keishi. 

Kyoto became common only from about 1800.

I’m happy to be corrected if anyone knows more. 

Timon Screech

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[John Lo]

Dear Marc, Tim, and All,

Matthew Stavros writes the following (pp. xv–xvi) in his Kyoto: An Urban History of Japan's Premodern Capital:

"As far as we can tell, the proper noun 'Heian-kyō was almost never used, not even during the Heian period. It appears in an eighth-century poem composed around the time of the city's establishment and then only sporadically thereafter, and almost always in literary ways. Instead, throughout the premodern era, contemporaries tended to signify their city using one of several common (rather than proper) nouns that meant plainly 'the capital.' Written using a variety of ideographs and character combinations, we read the most common among these today as 'Kyoto,' 'Miyako,' or 'Kyō,' and use each as a proper noun. How each of these words were read contemporaneously, however, and whether or not they were used as proper nouns is not known and is most likely unknowable." (Italics mine.)

My understanding is that in the early Heian period,  when the western half of the city was referred to as ukyō 右京 and the eastern half as sakyō 左京, the former was referred to as Chōan 長安, after Chang'an, the largest city in T'ang China, and the latter as Rakuyō 洛陽, after Luoyang, the second largest city and subsidiary capital. As in T'ang China, where Chang'an was referred to as 西京 and Luoyang was referred to as 東京, so too these names were applied to the western and eastern halves of the Heian capital as well. Stavros writes that Emperor Saga used the terms Chōan and Rakuyō to refer to ukyō and sakyō, respectively (p. 92).

Stavros suggests that the compound terms Rakuchū–Rakugai 洛中洛外 as an ideographic pair later became "the most common term used to refer to Kyoto." He argues that "this articulation was new in the thirteenth century but the underlying idea was not" (p. 77). His reasoning can be found on pages 89–93.

I, too, would welcome any further insights or elaborations on the contemporaneous usage of these various terms.

Thank you.

John

John LoBreglio

Editor, The Eastern Buddhist

Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies, Oxford Brookes University (Retired)

The Eastern Buddhist Society

Otani University

Kita-ku

Kyoto, 603-8143

 

Tel: 075-411-8020

Fax: 075-411-8023 

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[Peter Kornicki]

And in the early Meiji period it was often referred to as 西京, pronounced Saikyō or Saikei.

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[Ross Bender]

When the capital was established by Emperor Kanmu, it was named "Heian-kyō  平安京    ".In the poetry it was named "Heian Rakudo "A Paradise of Peace"  平安樂土 

（『日本紀略』）延暦十三年（七九四）十一月丁丑【八】》○丁丑。詔。云々。山勢實合前聞。云々。此國山河襟帶、自然作城。因斯形勝、可制新號。宜改山背國、爲山城國。又子來之民、謳歌之輩、異口同辭、號曰平安京。

Enryaku 13.11.8 (December 4, 794)

Imperial edict: [omission] “The terrain of the mountains corresponds to previous reports. [omission] This province is a strategic place circled by mountains and rivers and thus forms a natural sort of fortification. Due to this favorable geography a new name shall be given. Yamashiro Province shall be renamed Yamashiro Province.[1]  The people who have come from afar singing its praises all call it ‘Heian-kyō.’

（『類聚國史』七二踏歌・『日本紀略』）文延暦十四年（七九五）正月乙酉【十六】》○乙酉。宴侍臣。奏踏歌曰。山城顕樂舊來傳。帝宅新成最可憐。郊野道平千里望。山河擅美四周連。〈新京樂、平安樂土、萬年春。〉冲襟乃眷八方中。不日爰開億載宮。壯麗裁規傳不朽。平安作號驗無窮。〈新年樂、平安樂土、萬年春。〉新年正月北辰來。満宇韶光幾處開。麗質佳人伴春色。分行連袂〓［イ＋舞］皇垓。〈新年樂、平安樂土、萬年春。〉卑高泳澤洽歓情。中外含和満頌聲。今日新京太平樂。年々長奉我皇庭。〈新京樂、平安樂土、萬年春。〉。

 

Enryaku 14.1.16 (February 10, 795)

The Emperor gave a banquet for the courtiers. Stamping dances were performed, and the following verses sung:

“The beauties of Yamashiro have been told since antiquity, and the auspiciousness of the Emperor’s new palace is unsurpassed. Outside the capital fields and roads extend level for a thousand leagues, and mountains and rivers are pleasing in all directions.” (New Capital Music; A Paradise of Peace; Spring for Ten Thousand Years)[2]

“With lofty mind the sovereign surveys the eight directions, and soon he opens the palace for myriad ages. Its grandness and magnificence are handed down through the ages, and its name ‘Heian’ – ‘Peace and Tranquility’ – is established forever.” (New Year Music; A Paradise of Peace; Spring for Ten Thousand Years)

“In the first month of the New Year the Northern Star shines, and radiant light fills all under heaven. Fair ladies step gracefully in the colors of spring, and arm in arm arranged in ranks they dance before the imperial throne.” (New Year Music; A Paradise of Peace; Spring for Ten Thousand Years)

“The humble and exalted are united in rejoicing, and harmony prevails in court and countryside, as praise fills the air. Today in the capital there is joyful music of great peace, and year after year we serve the imperial court.” (New Capital Music; A Paradise of Peace; Spring for Ten Thousand Years)

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[1] 山背国 - 山城国

[2] Names of the music.

Ross Bender

Amazon.com: IMPERIAL RULE: ESSAYS ON ANCIENT JAPAN eBook : BENDER, ROSS: Kindle Store

[Marc Keane]

Hello Tim, John, All

Thank you for all the insights.  Very helpful.

All for now,

Marc

[Marc Keane]

Saikyō, of course, being in reaction to the new Tōkyō, yes? Perhaps an intentional statement from Kyotoites, saying, "We're still here!"

[Gregory M. Pflugfelder]

Dear Peter: The written characters may have been 'read' (not exactly the same thing as 'pronounced') Saikyō/Saikei, but are you sure the term circulated in oral speech? I'm willing to be persuaded if that's the case, but it would be nice to have evidence. Cordially, Greg Pflugfelder

On Fri, Mar 20, 2026 at 11:43 PM Marc Keane <mpk...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Tim, John, All Thank you for all the insights. Very helpful. All for now, Marc On Saturday, March 21, 2026 at 2: 56: 13 AM UTC+9 John Lo wrote: Dear Marc, Tim, and All, Matthew Stavros writes the following (pp. xv–xvi) in his Kyoto: An Urban

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[Thomas D. Conlan]

Dear Marc and All:

For what it is worth, Yamaguchi has been known as the “Nishi no Miyako.” I think that the attempt to move the capital there in 1551 may have influenced this name. 

As to determining the readings of 京 as Kyō or Miyako, I would search kana documents. They do reveal some interesting surprises.

To cite one example, which is slightly off topic, in Princeton’s collection, a Sakuramotobō document dating from 1351 (Shōhei 6) reveals that the Kyōto street name of “Karasuma” (烏丸) was actually pronounced as “Karasumaru." 

Best wishes,

Tom Conlan 

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Thomas  Conlan
Professor in East Asian Studies and Professor of History
Princeton University
207 Jones Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544-1008
Tel: (609) 258-4773
Fax: (609) 258-6984
tco...@princeton.edu

[Jacques Joly]

About that "slightly off topic, » example of «  Karasumaru » , I would recall what my old sensei Bernard Frank told us about the mistakes conveyed by names, the appellation «  karasuma » has of course nothing to do with crows, but is a contraction of «  kara tsu (meaning « no » ) maru = castle, castle of the Chinese (reading, writing and speaking people = the nobility) = the imperial palace

For what is worth…

Jacques Joly"

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[John Kupchik]

Dear Jacques,

The etymology of Karasumaru you provide is highly problematic. Maru can mean 'an enclosure within a castle', a secondary development from the meaning 'circle', but this meaning did not emerge until the mid-15th century. As far as I can tell, it was not used for the more general meaning 'castle', as such a meaning is not listed in the authoritative 時代別国語大辞典室町時代編五. In any case, the place name Karasumaru is textually attested at least as early as 1220 CE (written as 烏丸), which predates this later meaning of maru by roughly 250 years. Furthermore, if it were really Kara-tu we would expect the modern-day form Karatsuma(ru), as a change of *-t- to -s- in this context would be irregular. Another problem is that -tu was not a genitive marker like -no but a genitive-locative marker, so semantically it does not make much sense to use it for a location in Kyoto, provided Kara means 'China' in this context. Literally, it would mean 'Castle in China' (if maru actually meant 'castle', of course). We should also keep in mind the genitive-locative marker -tu died out after the Nara period, and even in the Nara period it was non-productive.

Best,

John Kupchik

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[Jacques Joly]

Dear John,

I agree with you of course ; I was just « recalling » what I heard from my teacher without emitting any judgment about the accuracy of his words. So I will stick to the classical explanation of the place where you could relieve of the heat by drinking an infusion of loquat leaves.

All the best,

Jacques Joly

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