IN THE NARA EPOCH
the imperial ceremonies and national receptions that had to be held there. By the beginning of the eighth century, this development had reached a stage which necessitated a permanent capital, and Nara, thenceforth called Heijo (the castle of peace), was chosen.
The capital established there was on a scale of unprecedented size and splendour, and a lady's name—that of the Empress Gemmiyo—is fitly associated with this tribute to outward appearances. The plan of the city was taken from that of the Chinese metropolis. There were nine gates and nine avenues. The palace stood in the northern section and was approached from the south by an avenue, broad and perfectly straight, which divided the city into two exactly equal halves, the "left metropolis" and the "right metropolis." All the other streets ran in perfect parallelism with this main avenue, or at right angles to it.[1] Seven sovereigns reigned in succession at Nara. Some partial attempts were made from time to time to revive the old custom of changing the Court's residence on a change of emperor, but the unprecedentedly grand dimensions which Nara had quickly assumed, and the group of magnificent temples that had sprung up there in a brief period, constituted a metropolitan title which could not be ignored.
The Nara epoch owes its prominent place in history chiefly to the extraordinary zeal
- ↑ See Appendix, note 22.
133
