Kyoto, 1600
Kyoto, 1600 · MorningKyoto at the Dawn of the Edo Era
By 1600, Kyoto was emerging from the scars of the devastating Ōnin War. Under Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s late sixteenth-century reconstruction, the city’s layout was revitalized with dense rectangular blocks and newly doubled north-south streets. In this imagined scene, the bustling thoroughfare teems with merchants, laborers, and townspeople navigating the muddy, active lanes. Though the political center of gravity would soon shift to Edo with the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603, Kyoto remained a vibrant, flourishing heart of commerce and culture. The wooden storefronts and busy citizens reflect a resilient metropolis reclaiming its historic grandeur.
Reconstructed streets
The layout of these imagined streets reflects the late 16th-century reconstruction by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who doubled the north-south streets to create rectangular blocks.
The object shown is illustrative, not a documented one.
Source: Kyoto