Heijokyo covered 2,500 hectares, 4.3 kilometers from east to west, and 4.8 kilometers from north to south. The outer capital, 1.6 kilometers from east to west and 2.1 kilometers from north to south, was added to the eastern side.

The main gate, Rajomon, was situated in the center of the southern end of the capital. The main street, Suzaku Boulevard, which was 74 meters wide, stretched from Rajomon to the main gate of the palace, Suzakumon. It divided the city into the Left Capital (on the east) and the Right Capital (on the west).

The streets of the capital were organized in a grid. Major streets (which ran east-west) and major avenues (which ran north-south) were 531 meters apart. Two major streets and two major avenues marked the boundaries of a ward (bo), and each ward was divided into sixteen blocks (tsubo, 1.76 hectares) by three minor streets and three minor avenues. The streets, avenues, wards, and blocks were all numbered, and the combination of these numbers was used to designate a particular location. There were eastern and western markets in the capital.

The population of Heiankyo is the subject of controversy. It is believed that there were the city had a population of 100,000 or 200,000.

Reference

Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute (Eds.) (1996). Nara Imperial Palace Site Museum. Nara: Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute.

Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute (Eds.) Nara Palace Site. Nara: Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute.

Shimazu, M. (Ed.). (1990). Nara. Tokyo. JTB. (in Japanese)

Kitamura S. (1986). Full-day's Excursion to Nara, The Repository of Old Cultural Assets. Nara: Nara YMCA.

Copyright (2002) by S. Kathleen Kitao and Kenji Kitao

Note: This work was partially funded by the Doshisha University Computer Research Fund, 2002.

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Copyright (2004) by Kenji Kitao