Kyoto

Location of Kyoto in Kyoto Prefectur.

Kyoto (京都, Kyōto, "Caipital ceety") (Japanese pronunciation: [kʲoːto] ( listen)) is a ceety in the central pairt o the island o Honshū, Japan. It haes a population close tae 1.5 million. Ance the imperial caipital o Japan, it is nou the caipital o Kyoto Prefectur, as well as a major pairt o the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan aurie.

The ceety haes been kent syne the later 19t Century CE for Kyoto University, an for being the heidquarters o the famous video game company Nintendo, which began in Kyoto as a playin card company in CE 1889.

Name

In Japanese, the ceety haes been cried Kyō (京), Miyako (都) or Kyō no Miyako (京の都). In the 11t century, the ceety wis renamed Kyoto ("caipital ceety"), efter the Cheenese wird for caipital ceety, jingdu (京都). Efter Edo wis renamed Tokyo (meanin "Eastren Caipital") in 1868, Kyoto wis kent for a short time as Saikyō (西京, meanin "Wastren Capital").

An obsolete spellin for the ceety's name is Kioto; it wis umwhile kent tae the Wast as Meaco or Miako (Japanese: 都; miyako, meaning "the seat of Imperial palace" or "capital".). Another term commonly used to refer to the city in the pre-modern period was Keishi (京師), meanin "metropolis" or "caipital".

Geography

Autumn in Kyoto attracts throngs o tourists tae temples like this.

Kyoto is locatit in a valley, pairt o the Yamashiro (or Kyoto) Basin, in the eastren pairt o the muntainous region kent as the Tamba hielands. The Yamashiro Basin is surroondit on three sides bi muntains kent as Higashiyama, Kitayama an Nishiyama, wi a height juist abuin 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) abuin sea level. This interior positionin results in hot simmers an cauld winters. There are three rivers in the basin, the Ujigawa tae the sooth, the Katsuragawa tae the wast, an the Kamogawa tae the east. Kyoto Ceety takes up 17.9% o the land in the prefecture wi an aurie o 827.9 km²

The oreeginal ceety wis arranged in accordance wi traditional Cheenese feng shui follaein the model o the auncient Cheenese caipital o Chang'an (present-day Xi'an). The Imperial Palace faced sooth, resultin in Ukyō (the richt sector o the caipital) being on the wast while Sakyō (the left sector) is on the east. The streets in the modren-day wards o Nakagyō, Shimogyō, an Kamigyō still follae a grid pattern.

The day, the main business destrict is locatit tae the sooth o the auld Imperial Palace, wi the less-populatit northren aurie retainin a far greener feel. Surroondin auries dae no follae the same grid pattern as the center o the ceety, though streets throughoot Kyoto share the distinction o haein names.

Kyoto sits atop a lairge natural water table that provides the ceety wi ample freshwater wells. Due tae lairge scale urbanization, the amunt o rain drainin intae the table is dwindlin an wells athort the aurie are dryin at an increasin rate.

Internaitional relations

See an aw: Leet o twin touns an sister ceeties in Japan

Twin touns — Sister ceeties

The ceety o Kyoto haes a sister ceety relationship wi:

• Boston, Unitit States
• Paris, Fraunce (Friendship Pledge ceety)
• Cologne, Germany
• Cuzco, Peru
• Konya, Turkey
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Florence, Italy
• Kiev, Ukraine
• Xi'an, Fowkrepublic o Cheenae (Friendship ceety)
• Guadalajara, Mexico
• Zagreb, Croatie

Freemit airtins

Wikimedia Commons haes media adae wi:

Kyoto prefecture

• Kyoto Travel Guide — Ceety o Kyoto an Kyoto Tourism Cooncil
• Kyoto Ceety Local Govrenment (Inglis)
• Kyoto Guide including interactive map & ower 1,300 pictures.
• Kyoto's temples & shrines— Information on 26 temples an shrines.