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

Emperor Kanmu moved his court to the new capital in 794, laying it out on a Chinese-style grid; emperors resided there for nearly eleven centuries.

Q 02/05

What was Kyoto's original name when Emperor Kanmu founded it?

A) Nara-kyō

B) Heian-kyō

C) Edo-kyō

D) Fujiwara-kyō

Answer · why

B) Heian-kyō

Heian-kyō, the 'capital of peace and tranquility', gave its name to the Heian period; by its late centuries people simply called it Kyōto, 'capital ci...

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

The powerful Buddhist temples of Nara had meddled in court politics, so Kanmu left in 784 for Nagaoka-kyō and a decade later settled at the village of...

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

Emperor Meiji settled in Tokyo in 1869, a year after Edo was renamed; the court's departure cost Kyoto much of its population and trade.

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 Ōnin War of 1467-77, a succession feud among the Ashikaga shogunate's great houses, turned Kyoto into a battlefield; much of the city burned and t...