Naniwa Palace Ruins

In front of you there is little more than grass and a few stone platforms. Yet almost fourteen centuries ago, this was the center of power in Japan. This is the site of Naniwa Palace, and it was a capital long before Kyoto or Tokyo existed.

1Two palaces on one site

In 645, after a coup at court, Emperor Kōtoku moved the capital to Naniwa, next to the great port that linked Japan with China and Korea. The palace, built of wood with thatched roofs, was completed in 652. Its layout, which separated the emperor's residence from the halls of government, later inspired the capitals of Nara and Kyoto. According to the chronicles, it burned down in 686.

In 726 Emperor Shōmu ordered a second palace, this time with tiled roofs and stone foundations, and in 744 Naniwa briefly became the capital again. When the court moved to Nagaoka in 784, its buildings were taken apart and carried there.

2The man who hunted a phantom

Over time, even the memory of its location was lost. In 1913 old roof tiles turned up in this area, and the archaeologist Yamane Tokutarō suspected the truth, but the land belonged to the army. He had to wait until the war was over. Excavations began in 1954, and in 1961 the great audience hall came to light.

"I have seen the phantom Daigokuden," Yamane is said to have exclaimed when he found it.

The site has been a National Historic Site since 1964.

3What to look for

• The raised platform of the Daigokuden, the hall where the emperor received the court.
• The rows of stones marking the vanished pillars.
• The castle keep to the northeast: almost a thousand years of history lie between it and the palace.