Q.Where was the capital at Asuka? The palaces that kept moving

Capitals that moved with each reign

During the Asuka period (roughly from the reign of Empress Suiko at the end of the 6th century to the move to Heijō in 710), the palace—both the emperor's residence and the seat of government—was generally rebuilt anew with each reign. This practice is called rekidai sengū, the relocation of the capital from one reign to the next. It began when Empress Suiko was enthroned at Toyura Palace in 592 and later moved to Oharida Palace, and for about a century the major palaces clustered in Asuka. The Asuka Historical National Government Park likewise frames the span from Suiko's enthronement at Toyura to Jitō's move to Fujiwara-kyō as 'about 100 years.'

The main palaces and the rulers who built them

Below are the principal palaces recorded in sources such as the Nihon Shoki, paired with the rulers traditionally said to have built them. Dates and identified locations vary between scholars, so the table is offered as a guide based on tradition and the prevailing view. The Asuka Okamoto, Asuka Itabuki, Later Asuka Okamoto, and Asuka Kiyomihara palaces are all thought to have stood in and around today's Asuka Palace Site (Oka, Asuka Village).

The Asuka Palace Site, where palaces are layered

The Asuka Palace Site in Asuka Village is designated a National Historic Site as a place where multiple palaces overlap on the same ground. It was designated in 1972 under the name 'presumed Asuka Itabuki Palace Site,' and after later excavations showed that not only the Itabuki Palace but also the Okamoto and Asuka Kiyomihara palaces were layered there, the name was changed in 2016 to 'Asuka Palace Site.' Empress Kōgyoku's Asuka Itabuki Palace is said to be the stage of the Isshi Incident of 645—when Prince Naka no Ōe and others struck down Soga no Iruka—which set off the Taika Reform.

From Asuka to Fujiwara-kyō, then to Heijō-kyō

The era of palaces clustered at Asuka pivoted sharply with the arrival of a full-scale capital city. In 694, Empress Jitō moved the capital from the palaces of Asuka to Fujiwara-kyō (today's Kashihara City and Asuka Village area). Modeled on Chinese capitals, Fujiwara-kyō adopted a full grid-based jōbō plan and is regarded as Japan's first true urban capital. Then in 710 Empress Genmei moved the capital to Heijō-kyō (today's Nara City), beginning the Nara period. Here you can trace how the capital expanded from individual 'points' to the planned 'plane' of a city, from Asuka–Fujiwara to Heijō.

Re-reading it through the World Heritage 'Asuka–Fujiwara'

The World Heritage site 'Asuka–Fujiwara,' expected to be inscribed in 2026, bundles together exactly these capitals and their related remains. Its 19 component assets include palace and government-office sites, Buddhist temple sites, and tombs—among them the Asuka Palace Site and the Fujiwara Palace Site. The promoters describe the Fujiwara Palace Site as proof that 'a centralized state based on the ritsuryō system was born in Japan.' From the scattered palaces of Asuka to the planned capital of Fujiwara-kyō—the arc of this article maps directly onto the 'birth of the form of the state' that the World Heritage listing aims to tell.

Datasets behind this article

• Component Parts of the World Heritage “Asuka-Fujiwara”世界遺産「飛鳥・藤原」登録推進協議会
• Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs)文化庁
• Cultural Heritage Overview WebGIS (Nabunken)奈良文化財研究所
• National Land Numerical Information: World Cultural Heritage Data国土交通省

Related reading

• Asuka — what makes it so remarkable?
• Why is Nara called an ancient capital?