Kunikyo Imperial Capital Ruins

In 740, Emperor Shomu relocated Japan's capital to the Mikanohara basin in what is now Kyoto Prefecture, partly to distance the court from epidemic disease and partly, historians believe, as a move in a power struggle between the rival Fujiwara and Tachibana clans. The capital remained incomplete throughout its short existence and was relocated again just four years later. The unfinished structures were incorporated into a nearby temple, and today the Mikanohara plain is a public open space where the stone foundation slabs of the abandoned palace are still visible among the wildflowers. Excavations in 1973 uncovered additional building foundations, and the cornerstone of what was once a seven-storied pagoda stands nearby.