is a historical street in

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 c ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, 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 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 ...

. At the time the Street was about 32 meters wide but later it was destroyed due to the

Ōnin War The , also known as the Upheaval of Ōnin and Ōnin-Bunmei war, was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the Muromachi period in Japan. '' Ōnin'' refers to the Japanese era during which the war started; the war ended during the Bun ...

. In the year 1590 the street was reconstructed by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

, who ordered a large number of Buddhist temples to be moved to the site. According to records, there were approximately 80 temples in the area, from different sects. The street's name literally means "Temple Town", similar to English " Templeton", and reflects the large number of temples moved there during

's remodeling of Kyoto in the 16th century. It is said that by lining up the temples,

actually wanted to protect the city from attacks coming from the east, as invaders would run into the sacred buildings first, making it hard for them to proceed with their plans and destroy the city. 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 character ...

, stores selling books, Buddhist rosaries, writing brushes and medicines began to flourish in the area; as well as the shops of paper and

shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usua ...

craftsmen, which eventually gave shape to the street of today. From 1895 to 1926, there was a

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...

running between Marutamachi Street and Nijō Street.

Present Day

Nowadays the street runs on the east side of 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 ...

, between

Kawaramachi Street runs parallel to the west bank of the Kamo River on the eastern side of Kyoto, Japan. Its intersection with Shijō Street is called Shijō Kawaramachi and is a leading shopping district of the city. Both Shijō and Kawaramachi Street are pro ...

(east side) and Gokomachi Street (west side). The section extending from Marutamachi Street to Nijō Street is known as Teramachikai and is lined with antique stores and galleries. The section from

Oike Street Oike Street (御池通おいけどおり ''Oike Dōri'') is a mayor street that crosses the center of the city of Kyoto from east to west, running approximately 4.9 km from Kawabata Street (east) to Tenjingawa Street (west). History Durin ...

Sanjō Street 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 from east to west, running from Shinomiya in the Yamashina-ku ward (east) to the vicinity of the Tenryū-ji in A ...

is a shopping arcade called Teramachi Shōtengai. The area extending from

Shijō Street runs in the center of Kyoto, Japan from east to west through the commercial center of the city. Shijō literally means ''Fourth Avenue'' of Heian-kyō, the ancient capital. History The section between Shinkyōgoku street and the vicini ...

is also an arcade containing an assortment of shops and services, both traditional and modern, which receives the name of Teramachi Kyōgoku Shōtengai (Compasso Teramachi). The section between

and

is closed to vehicular traffic during the day and along with the shopping streets Kawaramachi and Shinkyōgoku forms a pedestrian passage, which is currently a popular shopping spot in the city among young people and tourists as well. The section between

and Takatsuji Street has many electronic shops, receiving the name of "Teramachi Denkigai".

Relevant Landmarks Along the Street

* Yatadera * Rozan-ji *

Honnō-ji is a temple of the Nichiren branch of Buddhism located in Kyoto, Japan. Honnō-ji incident Honnō-ji is most famous for the Honnō-ji incident – the assassination of Oda Nobunaga – that occurred there on 21 June 1582. Nobunaga lodged at ...

* Kyoto City Library of Historical Documents * Kyoto City Hall

References

External links

Yatadera

Kyoto City Library of Historical Documents

Teramachikai English website
Streets in Kyoto Odonyms referring to a building Odonyms referring to religion {{kyoto-geo-stub