Old capital

For the majority of the 8th century, Nara was home to Japan’s first permanent capital. Known as Heijō-kyō it was a massive planned city with somewhere between 100,000-200,000 inhabitants. But it was suddenly abandoned when the court moved to what would become Kyoto. Buried under farmlands for over 1,000 years, many remains of this lost city have now been excavated, and some of its most important buildings are being reconstructed.

Heijyo-kyō

Kyoto is known as the ancient capital of Japan.
Sugawara no Michizane was a poet, scholar, and one of the most powerful men in late 9th century Japan. But for centuries he has been worshiped as "Tenjin", a god first associated with thunder, and later with learning.

Heian-kyō (平安京) was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180.
The city boundaries formed a rectangle measuring 4.5 km from east to west and 5.2 km from north to south. The city layout followed Heijyō-kyō (平城京,Japan's capital during the Nara period) with the Imperial palace, Daidairi, placed in the center of the northern city limits and the Suzaku Avenue (Suzaku-ōji), the main thoroughfare extending from the palace down through the center of the city, dividing it into the Right (Ukyō) and Left Capitals (Sakyō) (the eastern side being the Left and the western side being the Right from the emperor's viewpoint.) The design followed Sui and Tang dynasty Changan with the exception that Heian-kyō had no city walls. It is thought that the site for the city was selected according to the principles of Shijinsōō (四神相応, "Four Gods Suitability") based on Chinese Feng shui and relating to the Four Symbols of Chinese astrology.
The layout of Heian-kyō was plotted in accordance with the principles of geomancy as a square city. Jō (丈, about 3.03m) was the basic unit of measurement. 40 sq. jō made a chō (町, 121.2 meters on each side). The city was further divided by major streets called ōji (大路) and minor streets called koji (小路). Four lines of chō running east to west (excepting the first 2 rows in the north) were together called a jō (条) and four lines of chō running from north to south were called a bō (坊) The Cho which shared the same Jo and Bo were each given a number from 1 to 16.
The width of even the minor streets was 4 Jō (丈, about 12m) and for the major streets over 8 Jō (丈, about 24m). Almost all of the streets in present-day Kyoto have become considerably narrower. Suzaku-ōji for example was 28 Jō (丈, about 84m) wide.

After the capital was moved to Tokyo, Kyoto became known as the old capital.

Heian-kyō