is one of the two

state guest house A state guest house is a building owned by the government of a country which is used as an official residence for visiting foreign dignitaries, especially during state visits or for other important events. Americas Canada * 7 Rideau Gate in O ...

s of the

Government of Japan The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary stat ...

. The other state guesthouse is the

Akasaka Palace , or the , is one of the two state guest houses of the Government of Japan. The other state guesthouse is the Kyoto State Guest House. The palace was originally built as the in 1909. Today the palace is designated by the Government of Japan a ...

History

During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

(1603 – 1868) a Garden House and multiple mansions of aristocrats stood in the northeastern part such as of the Yanagihara family and Kushige family. The

Kyoto Imperial Palace The is the former palace of the Emperor of Japan. Since the Meiji Restoration in 1869, the Emperors have resided at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, while the preservation of the Kyoto Imperial Palace was ordered in 1877. Today, the grounds are open t ...

is in the northern part of Kyōto-Gyoen National Garden (京都御苑). It was constructed in 1331 and the Emperors lived there until 1869. There are also

Sentō Imperial Palace In Japan, the traditionally does not refer to a single location, but to any residence of retired emperors. Before Akihito abdicated in 2019, the last Emperor to retire did so in 1817, so the designation commonly refers to the historical . Kyot ...

gardens. In 1994, to commemorate the twelve-hundredth (1200th) anniversary of the establishment of the ancient capital of Heian-kyō (平安京), there was growing momentum toward building a Japanese-style guest house in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

. In October 1994, approval was obtained from the Cabinet of Japan for "the construction of a guest house facility." The government decided to build a state guest house within the Kyoto Gyoen National Garden (京都御苑). In March 2002, construction of the Kyoto State Guest House (main structure) started. Construction completed in February 2005 and the Kyoto State Guest House was opened on 17 April 2005. The total floor space of the new facility is 16,000 m² and the lot is 20,140 m². Since July 2016 the Kyoto State Guest House's all-year public opening started.'' It was designed by

Nikken Sekkei Nikken Sekkei (日建設計) is an architectural, planning and engineering firm from Japan, with headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Today (2019), Nikken Sekkei ranks as the second largest architectural practice in the world. Staff and Offices As o ...

. The Western-style of the Akasaka State Guest House contrasts with the Japanese-style buildings of the Kyoto State Guest House. The first state guest after the opening of the Kyoto State Guest House was

Nguyễn Minh Triết Nguyễn Minh Triết (born 8 October 1942) is a Vietnamese politician who served as the sixth President of Vietnam from 2006 to 2011. He was elected by the National Assembly of Vietnam with 464 votes (94%) in June 2006. Nguyễn Minh Triết w ...

, then President of Vietnam (stayed 28–29 November 2007).

Gallery

File:Kyoto State Guest House1.jpg File:Kyoto_State_Guest_House2.jpg File:Kyoto State Guest House3.jpg File:Kyoto_State_Guest_House4.jpg

Japanese garden

It consists of the “true garden” (真の庭) in front of the entrance, the central "row garden" (行の庭) in the hall, and the "grass garden" (草の庭) facing the guest room. A modern Japanese-style garden of "Ichiya Niwaya" was created by Kyoto gardeners with Sano Tōemon (佐野藤右衛門) as a masterpiece under the supervision of Hiromasa Amagasaki (尼崎博正). File:Kyoto State Guest House7.jpg File:Kyoto State Guest House6.jpg File:Kyoto State Guest House8.jpg File:Kyoto State Guest House5.jpg

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Kyoto Palaces in Japan Imperial residences in Japan Tourist attractions in Kyoto Houses completed in 2005 State guesthouses

History

Gallery

Japanese garden

See also

References