Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/93

Rh sometimes indeed empty names, but once holding the proud position of capitals of the Empire.

In process of time, such perpetual changes proving incompatible with the needs of the more advanced civilisation introduced from China and Korea, a tendency to keep the Court settled in one place began to make itself felt. Nara in Yamato remained the capital for seven reigns, between A.D. 709 and 784. After further wanderings, the Court fixed itself at Kyōto in 794; and this city continued, with few interruptions, to be the residence of successive generations of Mikados till the year 1868, when it was abandoned in favour of Yedo (Tōkyō), which had been the capital of the Shōguns ever since the year 1590. Kyōto, however, still nominally retains the rank of a metropolis, as is indicated by its new name of 西京 Saikyō, or "western capital," in contradistinction to 東京 Tōkyō, the "eastern capital." The new name, however, is little used. The chief sights in and near Kyōto are the Mikado's palaces, the temples named Nishi Hongwanji, Chion-in, Kiyomizu-dera, Gion, Ginkakuji, Kinkakuji, Higashi Hongwanji, San-jū-san-gen-dō, and Inari-no-Jinja, Mount Hiei-zan, Lake Biwa, Arashi-yama famous for its cherry-blossoms and maple-leaves, and the rapids of the Katsura-gawa. Brocades and embroidery generally are the pro ducts for which Kyōto is chiefly noted. In the second rank come pottery, porcelain, cloisonne, and bronze.

Nara, whose charms have been sung by many a Japanese poet from the eighth century onwards, is distinguished by the almost English appearance of the park which surrounds the ancient Shintō temple of Kasuga, where tame deer crowd around the visitor to feed out of his hand. In Nara, likewise, stands the great Buddhist temple of Tōdaiji, with the colossal bronze image known as the Daibutsu or "Great Buddha," dating from A.D. 749.

Another of the old capitals, Kamakura, is distant only a few miles from Yokohama. It was never inhabited by the Mikados. It was the seat of the Shōguns from 1189 onwards, and of the so-called Regents of the Hōjō family during the troublous Middle