Myougei

Abstract

The Imperial capital for a thousand years, Kyoto is unique among Japanese cities for two reasons: it has a recognizable urban structure (an orthogonal grid) and a clear boundary (a surrounding ring of mountains). The city was spared from bombing during the Second World War, only to then lose most of its traditional architecture to economic development over the following decades. Harsh inheritance taxes and inflated land prices decimated the city center. The result is like a photographic negative of the historical European city: rather than a preserved core surrounded by an increasingly dominant modern periphery, the old city of Kyoto has dissolved from the inside out. The past survives as a ragged belt of temples and gardens around the urban perimeter.