Kyoto Court

The palace from afar showing the bushes, trees, flowers, ponds, gardens, and other scenery surrounding it. 

  

         While the court is in session many things go on. For example silent signals can mean many things ranging from marriage proposals to murder plots. A simple brush of the hair back could mean much more than what meets the eye. There is also fashion which is very important and always showed a sign of class. When one dressed well and had their makeup done nicely, it was a sign that they were very important and held power over others surrounding them. The Kyoto Court to the north was one of the two imperial courts that lasted during a fifty year time period. The south often captured the north however the Kyoto which was north escaped and made it out several times too. The palace was beautiful and had ponds, gardens, trees, cherry blossoms and other beauties to go with it. The Kyoto or “Heian” period of Japan was also known as the “golden age”. Many countries have had their own golden ages and Japan was no different, but the specifics of Japan’s golden age were. From the ninth to twelfth century the Kyoto Court lasted in the imperial time. 

The grounds of the Kyoto Court Palace Today.

            The palace represents a place where the capital was moved Nagaoka in 794 AD. It was situated in the area the Nijo Castle would be today. However, in 1331, when a series of catastrophes happened, the palace was moved. The only bit that is left of this imperial palace is a small garden called the Shinsen-en and a pond. Heian Jenju is mere feet away from the Kamo River and is a 19th century copy of the Heian Palace. Towards the east and west there was to huge market places the catered to the people of Heian Kyo. In the north, the palace was built so that the emperor could face the south. Since the emperor faced the south, he could look over his people making sure they did the right thing and were acting proper. The palace was placed very specifically so that the emperor was in the prime spot, at the head of trade and industries, able to watch over his land, and had market place surrounding it. 

Fashion:

          Fashion, beauty and most importantly elegance were prized and a symbol of how powerful you are in the Kyoto Court. The clothes must be made of the finest material and the robes always smooth, crisp and unrumpled. For women, the standard beauty is twelve layers of the finest silk robes. It is considered rude to show up without the proper clothing. To have long hair, a pouty mouth, narrow eyes, thin mouth, a pale face, and round apple-like mouth was considered beauty. The long hair must be ankle length always worn in a topknot and red lipstick was  painted over the white foundation of the face. The narrow eyes were part of their build and the apple-like cheeks were made by blush. To be pale made you look rich because you weren’t tan. Tan is a symbol of poverty because you have to work outside and get tanner instead of already having the money. Higher eyebrows were beautiful, to get these eyebrows, women shaved off their eyebrows and painted them on higher to get a look of elegance. Men had long pointed beards and that was considered handsome. Also, each men was recognized by the perfume that they wore and made themselves. In the Kyoto Court, if you were beautiful then you were a good person, personality didn’t matter, money and beauty did. 


Code of Conduct:

               One must act very specifically to be a participating part of the court at all times. They must not violate the terms that are put forth, such as acting proper at all times. A lady was held to even higher standards than men were. For example, the said lady would not be allowed to talk out of turn without being judged. Nor would any gender be able to be rude or untimely as that was considered heinous. Since people were held up to high standards, others around them wanted to be like them. If there was someone who wasn’t part of the Kyoto court, they wanted to be like the Kyoto Court. They wanted to dress like them,have their hair and makeup done like them, and be like them to the full extent. Some people even held themselves up to the high standards of the people of the Kyoto Court. The society was doing better because people behaved and acted better however no one really was as good as the Kyoto court themselves. 

Works Cited
Colorado Boulder. "CAS." Welcome to the Center for Asian Studies. N.p., n.d. Web. 2010.

Emmott, Craig. "The Heian Imperial Palace in Kyoto." The Heian Imperial Palace in Kyoto. N.p., n.d.          Web. 2013.

LLC, Tangient. "Citations :." ChinaandJapan. N.p., n.d. Web. 2013.


Parker, I. J. "About Heian Japan." About Heian Japan. N.p., n.d. Web. 2012.