Kyoto's Geography, Explained

Kyoto is one of the most historic cities in Japan. Founded in the 8th Century, it boasts numerous shrines and temples. This video explores this history and geography of Kyoto.

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Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.
Trans rights.

Kyoto was removed from the list of cities where the atomic bomb could be dropped because one of the officials making the list went there before on a honeymoon and loved it.

[NickBurman]

Before Kyoto, the capital of Japan was where the Emperor was. If he took a fancy to a particular town and decided to settle there, bang, instant capital status. The curious thing is that Tokyo was never really officially declared an imperial capital when the emperor relocated there, leading Kyotoites to joke that the Emperor is on an extended business trip...

[MistSoalar]

Nice video! Thanks for covering the history.
Kyoto is practically in the valley, with hotter summers and colder winters.
For anyone visiting, I recommend spring or fall, colder days. You can layer up, and the crowd makes your surroundings warmer, but nobody can escape the hot humid summer with a crowd.

[geofreak]

As a Bay Area native now living in Kyoto, I'm pleased to see this video and looking forward to the next one about San Francisco!

I highly recommend visiting the Honmaru Palace of Nijo Castle, which was recently reopened to the public after a long renovation project. It's by reservation only, which means you have much more room to walk slowly and look closely at all the details compared to the crowded Ninomaru Palace. There is also a really nice introductory video explaining how the current buildings were actually originally the residence of the Katsura branch of the Imperial Family located in the Imperial Palace, as touched upon in this video, and moved to Nijo Castle in the Meiji Period (1890s). As such, it actually has some western-inspired details like the light fixtures in the hallways, even though overall the architecture is styled after the Edo Period. It really drove home for me that even though Kyoto has such a long history, not everything you see now is equally ancient, but it has been rebuilt and repurposed at various times, sometimes modeled after even earlier periods.

P.S. Anyone from a certain part of the East Bay will probably also be familiar with Nijo Castle for another reason...

[MrWertheron]

A lot of comments are surprised by the fact he said that Kyoto did not have the aame fate as Venice and poibt out overtourism. But, it's true outiside of some really specific districts (Gion, Arashiyama and the surrounding of ghe Fushimi Inari) which are overcrowded, the majority of Historical Kyoto tgere are not a lot of tourists, and thousands of beautiful temples are just ignored by tourists. And the majority of Kyoto is the modern city and (outside of the station) there are no touristss there (and majority of Kyoto inhabitants are not working for the tourism industry). I know japanese and foreign media are focusing on this problem, but in reality overtourism is really a problem of overconcentration in few areas. It doesn't compare with Venice.

[cheerijessie]

I lived in Kyoto years ago for college. I was not too far from Fushimi or Momoyama. It's such a historically tidily organized town I'm glad you've taken a look at its design. I miss it, especially places like Arashiyama

[fjklm]

It is one of my all-time favourite cities, along with Edinburgh, Rome and Seville.

[hungo]

Kyoto is an amazingly quaint and well-designed city which features the most charming architecture of Japan.

[SpidermanandJeny]

I lived in Japan during Covid amd and it was a great once in a lifetime to visit Kyoto. Normally it's a huge touriet trap and getting around is difficult due to everything being packed, but with so many ppl at home everything was almost empty snd you could see anything you want on your time. If something like that happens again where you live, take advantage of the opportunity.

[TheDanEdwards]

What makes these Japanese cities work is the high human density. Something which few Americans will tolerate. The greater suburban complex that is centered on Osaka and reaches west to Hyodo and northeast to Kyoto also encourages car ownership, and there are plenty of Japanese who prefer this over the super-dense city centers. Yet even suburban Japan locates residences much closer together than in the US.

[CityBeautiful]

Any other cities you want to get the "City in 10 Minutes" treatment?

[Salsmachev]

I was going to make a comment mentioning the book you recommended, but then you recommended it. I read it in undergrad in an urban history class, and it's a great book.

[ZarlanTheGreen]

No, the old name of Kyoto wasn't "Hyankyo". It was "Heiankyō". (usually spelled Heian-kyō, in English, presumably to help people get the pronunciation right) The sounds are H-e-i-a-n-ky-o-o. (translates as peaceful/tranquil capital.Whereas Kyoto basically translates as "capital city". Tokyo="eastern capital", with its old name of Edo, essentially meaning "estuary")

[pongop]

The history and geography videos are some of my favorites! Great one!

[Joao-pldb]

Trivia: Japan don't have an official capital (de jure: by law) because it is not in the constitution . The capital is where the Emperor and the government are making Tokyo de facto the capital.

[raptokvortex]

Yasaka Jinja used to be called Gion Sha prior to the Meiji Reformation in 1868. That's why the Gion area is called Gion! It also used to be a combined Temple and Shrine (Buddhist and Shinto) but was forced to choose as part of the Emperor's separation of Buddhism and Shinto, which is why the name changed at the same time!

[Emblematicify]

I work as a professional tour guide in Kyoto, and I was very impressed with your video! I'm definitely going to buy the paperback of the book recommendation. It's very expensive in JP yen at the moment, though...

So much history and culture has formed in its basin for over a thousand years, I think that big bowl shape in the mountains has created a big "culture soup" that's condensed so much history into such a small space.

As someone that works in the tourism industry, I certainly think the tourism industry could improve its methods and recommendations for tourists, as certain areas of the city could benefit from more tourists, surprisingly. That's something I'm trying to contribute to making changes for, because I really do think it's a matter that could be alleviated by better logistics and marketing.

[Occupant]

I wonder if Kyoto will stand up to overtourism in the future. I was there this year, and I kept hearing that overcrowding of tourists has become a huge problem there in the last few years. I definitely saw it — some of the temples and historic districts were not at all capable of handling the number of people. Everywhere else in Japan was very good at moving dense crowds efficiently, but in Kyoto I kept getting stuck in streets too packed for anyone to move. I went to Fushimi Inari at night, and that was a much better experience.

[dennisc]

Kyoto, the anagram lover's Tokyo.

[charleskristiansson]

A beautifully made video and you have a very pleasant voice.