Kyoto Prefecture

Kyoto Prefecture is a region in Japan’s Kansai area on the island of Honshu. It is home to about 2.58 million people and covers 4,612 square kilometers. Its neighbors are Fukui to the northeast, Shiga to the east, Mie to the southeast, Nara and Osaka to the south, and Hyōgo to the west. The capital, Kyoto city, holds 57 percent of the prefecture’s population. Other major cities include Kameoka, Maizuru, and Uji. The prefecture stretches from the Sea of Japan coast southeast toward the Kii Peninsula, covering the old provinces of Tamba, Tango, and Yamashiro. It is one of only two prefectures in Japan—the other being Osaka—that uses the suffix *fu* instead of the usual *ken*. Tourism is a major draw, and 21 percent of the land is set aside as Natural Parks. Kyoto Prefecture is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area, the second most populous region in Japan after Greater Tokyo and one of the world’s top economic zones by GDP.

Before the Meiji Restoration, this area was known as Yamashiro. For most of its history, Kyoto city served as Japan’s imperial capital. The city’s history goes back to the 6th century; in 544, the Aoi Matsuri festival was held there to pray for good harvests and weather. Kyoto was not the first capital—Nara came earlier. In 741, Emperor Shōmu briefly moved the capital to Kuni-kyo, within today’s Kyoto Prefecture. In 784, it shifted to Nagaokakyō, also in the prefecture. Then, in 794, Emperor Kanmu established Heian-kyō, which became modern Kyoto. Most of the streets, houses, stores, temples, and shrines in Kyoto still stand where they were placed that year. In 1192, real political power moved to Kamakura under a samurai shogunate, but Kyoto remained the imperial seat for the powerless emperors and their court. Imperial rule was briefly restored in 1333, but three years later another samurai clan set up a new shogunate in Kyoto. The Ōnin War, a great civil war, broke out in Kyoto in 1467, burning most of the town. Japan then entered the age of warring feudal lords. Tokugawa Ieyasu established a shogunate in Edo (now Tokyo) in 1603. In the 15th century, shōguns brought tea-jars from the Philippines to Uji in Kyoto for use in the Japanese tea ceremony. The Meiji Restoration returned Japan to imperial rule in 1868. Emperor Meiji, now absolute sovereign, moved to Tokyo the next year, and the imperial court never returned to Kyoto. During the 1868 Fuhanken Sanchisei reforms, the prefecture received its *fu* designation. Later, the old provincial system was reorganized, merging Tango Province, Yamashiro Province, and eastern Tanba Province into today’s Kyoto Prefecture. Although many Japanese cities were heavily bombed in World War II, Kyoto escaped such destruction. During the occupation, the U.S. Sixth Army and I Corps were headquartered there.

Kyoto Prefecture lies almost in the center of Honshu and Japan. It covers 4,612 square kilometers, or 1.2 percent of Japan’s total area, making it the 31st largest prefecture. To the north, it faces the Sea of Japan and Fukui Prefecture; to the south, Osaka and Nara; to the east, Mie and Shiga; and to the west, Hyōgo. The Tanba Mountains split the prefecture in two, giving the north and south very different climates. Twenty-one percent of the land is designated as Natural Parks: Sanin Kaigan National Park; Biwako, Kyoto Tamba Kogen, Tango-Amanohashidate-Ōeyama, and Wakasa Wan Quasi-National Parks; and Hozukyō, Kasagiyama, and Rurikei Prefectural Natural Parks.

Fifteen cities are in Kyoto Prefecture: Kyōtanabe, Kyōtango, Kizugawa, Kameoka, Maizuru, Miyazu, Mukō, Nagaokakyō, Nantan, Uji, Ayabe, Yawata, Jōyō, Fukuchiyama, and the capital Kyoto. Kansai Science City is in the southwest. There are also towns and villages in several districts: Funai District (Kyōtamba), Kuse District (Kumiyama), Otokuni District (Ōyamazaki), Sōraku District (Kasagi, Minamiyamashiro, Seika, Wazuka), Tsuzuki District (Ide, Ujitawara), and Yosa District (Ine, Yosano). Past mergers have reshaped these boundaries.

In 2020, Kyoto Prefecture had a population pyramid typical of an aging society, and it recorded one of the highest life expectancies in Japan at 85.54 years. According to a 2020 Agency for Cultural Affairs survey, over 60 percent of residents follow Shinto and Buddhism.

The current governor is Takatoshi Nishiwaki, a former vice minister of the Reconstruction Agency, first elected in April 2018 and re-elected twice since. The prefectural assembly has 60 members from 25 districts, elected in unified local elections (last round in 2019). As of September 2020, the assembly consisted of 30 Liberal Democratic Party members, 12 Japanese Communist Party, 11 Democratic Party, 5 Kōmeitō, and 2 Japan Restoration Party. Kyoto sends six members to the House of Representatives and four (two per election) to the House of Councillors. After the 2022, 2024, and 2025 national elections, the lower house delegation includes two LDP, two CDP, one Ishin, and one independent; the upper house has two LDP, one CDP, and one Ishin.

The prefectural flower is the weeping cherry, the official tree is the Kitayama Sugi, and the symbol bird is the streaked shearwater. Defense facilities are located in the prefecture, with details dating from August 1, 2013, involving prefectural and municipal arrangements.