Database: Yamashiro

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Yamashiro constitutes one of the provinces of Kinai, at the center of which is the capital, Kyoto. The former capital Heijo-kyo (Nara) was abandoned in 784, and after an interlude of ten years where the court settled in Nagaoka in the south of Yamashiro, Heian-kyo (Kyoto) was founded in 794. As a result, this province is a significant political center for the country.

Yamashiro is geographically divided between the plain of Kyoto, which continues south toward the sea, a rice growing and populated region, and the entire northern part of the province covered with mountains and forests which is snow-covered for part of the winter and sparsely populated. The province is crossed by two main rivers, the Kamo and the Katsura, which converge south of the capital and flow into the Yodo. There are famous monasteries, such as Mount Hiei, the center of Tendai Buddhism, and Mount Kurama. Mount Kurama was built to protect Kyoto from bad influences emerging from the northeast (according to feng-shui, Chinese geomancy). The northeast was populated by tengu, fantastic beings living in the Japanese mountains and legendary creatures of popular religion who come to persecute the living.

Hideyoshi had Fushimi Castle built in the southern suburbs of Kyoto, where he resided from 1594 until his death. Around Fushimi, an agglomeration developed. The development works carried out by Hideyoshi, as well as digging the Takase-gawa canal, allowed for a faster connection between the port of Osaka and Kyoto. As a result, Fushimi was made the port of the capital and contributed to the improved connection between the two main cities, that were forty kilometers apart.