Fujiwara Palace Site

A capital for sixteen years

This was the heart of Fujiwara-kyō, which served as the capital for 16 years, from 694 to 710. Three rulers, Empress Jitō, Emperor Monmu and Empress Genmei, governed from here.

It belongs to the city of Kashihara rather than Asuka Village, but it is within walking distance of Asuka.

Japan's first grid-plan capital

Fujiwara-kyō was the first full-scale capital in Japan to adopt the jōbō system, a grid plan. Streets were laid out like a chessboard and people lived within the blocks, following the model of capitals in Tang China.

Until then, the palaces of Asuka held only the ruler's residence and government offices; they were not cities. With Fujiwara-kyō, a planned, divided "capital city" appeared for the first time. The later capitals of Heijō-kyō (Nara) and Heian-kyō (Kyoto) inherited this form.

The layout of the palace

The palace covered an area about 1 km square. It was surrounded by a great wall pierced by twelve gates.

At the centre stood the Daigokuden (Great Hall of State), where the emperor conducted government business and ceremonies. To its south was the Chōdō-in, where officials lined up, and further south the Chōshūden-in. This layout also followed the Tang model and set the pattern for later palaces.

Today all that remains on the surface is the platform of the Daigokuden and markers showing where pillars stood.

From "palace" to "capital"

Whereas the Asuka palaces were rebuilt for each new ruler, Fujiwara-kyō was designed from the start as a city.

It was here that the ritsuryō law codes were completed, coins were issued and the country's name was fixed as "Nihon" (Japan). The end of the Asuka period and the beginning of the ritsuryō state (a state governed by law codes) changed places on this spot.

And yet, after only 16 years, the capital moved to Heijō-kyō. There are several theories as to why, such as problems with drainage or the city growing larger than planned, but the reason is not clear.

A place for flowers

The site has been left as a vast open field, and flowers are planted there each season.

Rapeseed blossoms in spring, yellow cosmos in early summer and lotuses in summer are followed in autumn by a sea of cosmos, said to number about three million. Land where no buildings may be built, in order to protect the remains, has ended up as one of the finest flower fields in Nara Prefecture.

Around the autumn equinox, red spider lilies bloom in a single line along the ridges dividing the field.

A view of the three mountains of Yamato

With nothing in the way, you can look all around at the three mountains of Yamato: Unebi, Miminashi and Ama-no-Kaguyama.

Fujiwara-kyō was placed in the middle of these three mountains. To the east you can see Kaguyama, the mountain in Empress Jitō's poem: Haru sugite / natsu kitarurashi / shirotae no / koromo hoshitari / Ame no Kaguyama: "Spring has passed and summer seems to have come: white robes are hung out to dry on heavenly Mount Kagu." The ridgelines there are almost exactly the ones the people of the Asuka period saw.

Visiting

It was designated a Special Historic Site of Japan in 1952. On 26 July 2026 it was inscribed as a World Heritage Site, as one of the component parts of "Asuka-Fujiwara: Archaeological Sites of Japan's Ancient Capitals and Related Properties."

Take a bus from Kintetsu Yamato-Yagi Station to the "Kashihara-shi Fujiwarakyō Shiryōshitsu" stop, among others. At this Kashihara City Fujiwara-kyō Exhibition Room, a reconstructed model shows what the capital looked like. Admission is free.