Q 01/05

Kyoto became the seat of Japan's imperial court in which year, chosen by Emperor Kanmu?

A) 794

B) 894

C) 1185

D) 1603

Answer · why

A) 794

The new city was laid out on a Chinese-style grid, and emperors ruled from it for eleven centuries.

Q 02/05

What was the original name of the city founded in 794, meaning 'capital of tranquility and peace'?

A) Nara-kyō

B) Heian-kyō

C) Edo-kyō

D) Fujiwara-kyō

Answer · why

B) Heian-kyō

Late in the Heian period people simply called it Kyōto, 'capital city'; after the move to Tokyo it was briefly Saikyō, 'western capital'.

Q 03/05

Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Kyoto partly to escape Buddhist clergy in which city?

A) Osaka

B) Kamakura

C) Nara

D) Nagoya

Answer · why

C) Nara

His final choice fell on the village of Uda in Yamashiro Province.

Q 04/05

The imperial court left Kyoto for Tokyo in which year, at the time of the Meiji Restoration?

A) 1926

B) 1889

C) 1912

D) 1869

Answer · why

D) 1869

Kyoto responded with a canal and Japan's first commercial electric railway to shore up its economy.

Q 05/05

Which decade-long conflict of 1467-77 left Kyoto in ruins, with trenches dug through the streets?

A) The Genpei War

B) The Boshin War

C) The Ōnin War

D) The Jōkyū War

Answer · why

C) The Ōnin War

The city did not really recover until the mid-16th century and has never seen such destruction since.