Sanjō Street（三条通さんじょうどおり ''sanjō dōri''）is a major street that crosses the center of the city of

Kyoto Kyoto (; 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 metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

from east to west, running from Shinomiya in the Yamashina-ku ward (east) to the vicinity of the

Tenryū-ji , formally known as , is the head temple of the Tenryū-ji branch of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, located in Susukinobaba-chō, Ukyō Ward, Kyoto, Japan. The temple was founded by Ashikaga Takauji in 1339, primarily to venerate Gautama Buddh ...

in Arashiyama (west).

History

The street corresponds to the Sanjō Ōji street of the

Heian-kyō Heian-kyō 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. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, mov ...

, being at that time 30 meters wide. During the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

the Sanjō Bridge was constructed in order to facilitate the crossing of military horses. 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 characteriz ...

the Sanjō Bridge became the final point of the

53 stations of the Tōkaidō The are the rest areas along the Tōkaidō, which was a coastal route that ran from Nihonbashi in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Sanjō Ōhashi in Kyoto.. There were originally 53 government post stations along the Tōkaidō, where traveler ...

, being separated from Edo by a distance of 490 km. After the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

several western style buildings were constructed along the street, many remaining to this day.

Present Day

Nowadays the street is a popular destination for both locals and visitors, as it hosts a large number of stores, shops, cafes and restaurants, as well as many historical buildings. It is also part of the route of the Kankō-sai procession part of the Gion Matsuri, held the 24th of July every year.

Relevant landmarks along the street

Former Bank of Japan building, Kyoto Branch

Lake Biwa Canal is a historic waterway in Japan connecting Lake Biwa to the nearby City of Kyoto. Constructed during the Meiji Period the canal was originally designed for the transportation of lake water for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes, but ...

* Keage Station * Keage Incline *

Nanzen-ji , or Zuiryusan Nanzen-ji, formerly , is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. Emperor Kameyama established it in 1291 on the site of his previous detached palace. It is also the headquarters of the Nanzen-ji branch of Rinzai Zen. The precincts o ...

temple *

Sanjō Keihan Station Sanjō Keihan Station (三条京阪駅 ''Sanjō Keihan Eki'') is a subway station in Higashiyama ward, city of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. General information Sanjō Keihan Station intersects with the Keihan Electric Railway's Keihan Mai ...

*Sanjō Bridge *

Kamo River The is located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The riverbanks are popular walking spots for residents and tourists. In summer, restaurants open balconies looking out to the river. There are walkways running alongside the river, and some stepping ...

* Shikyōgoku Street *

Teramachi Street is a historical street in Kyoto, Japan, running north–south from Kuramaguchi Street to Gojō Street, for about 4.6 km. History Present day Teramachi Street corresponds to the Higashi Kyōgoku Ōji of the Heian-kyō. At the time the Street ...

*Art Complex Building (1928), currently

GEAR (theatre show) GEAR (Japanese: ギア) is a Japanese long-run non-verbal theatre show that originates in Kyoto and incorporates elements of technology, skilled performance arts. It is the first long-run show with original content in Japan. History GEAR was fi ...

venue *

Niwaka Niwaka or FITSAT-1 is a 1U CubeSat satellite deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on 4 October 2012. The Niwaka satellite includes high power LEDs which are driven by 200 watts pulses, allowing Morse code style communication fr ...

Building by

Ando Tadao is a Japanese autodidact architect whose approach to architecture and landscape was categorized by architectural historian Francesco Dal Co as "critical regionalism". He is the winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize. Early life Ando was born a few mi ...

* The

Museum of Kyoto The is a museum of the history and culture of Kyoto. The annex served as Heian Museum of Ancient History until 1986. It was designed by Tatsuno Kingo and Uheiji Nagano as the former Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Fr� ...

* Building of the former Kyoto office of the

Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. History Like most modern Japanese instituti ...

(1906) * Nakagyō-ku ward post office (1902) *Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation (NTT) Kyoto Branch * Building of the Shinpukan (1926) * Sanjō shopping street（三条商店街） *

Shimadzu Corp. is a Japanese public KK company, manufacturing precision instruments, measuring instruments and medical equipment, based in Kyoto, Japan. It was established in 1875. The American arm of the company, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, was founde ...

headquarters *

Toei Kyoto Studio Park is a theme park and film set modeled after the Edo period located in Kyoto, Japan that opened its doors in 1975. It is situated in Toei Company's Kyoto Studio where movies have been produced. Projects filmed at the park include Sebastiano Seraf ...

Arashiyama is a district on the western outskirts of Kyoto, Japan. It also refers to the mountain across the Ōi River, which forms a backdrop to the district. Arashiyama is a nationally designated Historic Site and Place of Scenic Beauty. Notable to ...

External links

Toei Kyoto Studio Park

The Museum of KyotoGEAR

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanjo Street Streets in Kyoto