page_title: Heian Palace
section_title: Primary sources
hierarchical_section_title: Heian Palace / Primary sources
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the memorial stone at the site of the lost Daigakuden hall of the en:Heian Palace in Kyoto. Français&#160;: Pierre commémorative dans la salle Daigokuden du palais Heian.
context_page_description: The Heian Palace was the original imperial palace of Heian-kyō, the capital of Japan, from 794 to 1227. The palace, which served as the imperial residence and the administrative centre of for most of the Heian period, was located at the north-central location of the city in accordance with the Chinese models used for the design of the capital.
  The palace consisted of a large rectangular walled enclosure, which contained several ceremonial and administrative buildings including the government ministries. Inside this enclosure was the separately walled residential compound of the emperor or the Inner Palace. In addition to the emperor's living quarters, the Inner Palace contained the residences of the imperial consorts, as well as certain official and ceremonial buildings more closely linked to the person of the emperor.
  The original role of the palace was to manifest the centralised government model adopted by Japan from China in the 7th century — the Daijō-kan and its subsidiary Eight Ministries. The palace was designed to provide an appropriate setting for the emperor's residence, the conduct of great affairs of state, and the accompanying ceremonies.
context_section_description: While the palace itself has been completely destroyed, a significant amount of information regarding it has been obtained from contemporary and almost contemporary sources. The Heian Palace figures as a background for action in many Heian period literary texts, both fiction and non-fiction. These provide important information on the palace itself, court ceremonies and functions held there as well as everyday routines of the courtiers living or working there. Notable examples include the Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, the so-called Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon and the chronicle Eiga Monogatari}}. In addition, paintings in certain emakimono picture scrolls depict (sometimes fictional) scenes that took place at the palace; the Genji Monogatari Emaki, dating from about 1130 is perhaps the best-known example. Finally, there are also partially damaged contemporary maps of the palace from the 10th and 12th centuries showing the layout and function of the buildings within Dairi.
  In addition to literary evidence, archaeological excavation conducted mainly since the late 1970s have revealed further information about the palace. In particular, the existence and location of buildings such as the Buraku-in compound has been verified against the contemporary documentary sources.
caption: Memorial stone at the site of the Daigokuden hall of the palace.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-U30", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2005:05:28 21:27:59", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2327", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8456", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:05:28 12:27:10", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:05:28 12:27:10", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1311", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1115", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2186", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}