Heian Grand Shrine

Heian Grand Shrine stands in the Okazaki district of Kyoto's northeast basin, its spacious precincts occupying part of Okazaki Park. The shrine was established on 15 March 1895 as the centrepiece of the Heian Capital Relocation Millennium Commemoration Festival. Funded by donations from Kyoto residents and supporters nationwide, it was designed by Itō Chūta, professor of architecture at Tokyo University.

The principal enshrined kami (shusaijin) are Emperor Kanmu (r. 781–806), founder of Heian-kyō in 794, and Emperor Kōmei (r. 1846–1867), the final emperor before the Meiji Restoration. Initially only Kanmu was enshrined; Kōmei was added in 1940 during the 2,600th Anniversary of the Imperial Era festival. By honouring both the city's founder and the emperor at the moment of its transformation, the shrine exemplifies modern state Shinto and stands alongside the contemporaneous Meiji Shrine in Tokyo as a model of Meiji-era imperial shrine architecture.

The shrine's distinctive layout features a 24.4-metre tall torii gate marking the approach along Jingu Road, flanked symmetrically by the double-storied Azure Dragon and White Tiger pavilions. The main hall itself reproduces the Palace's Hall of State at five-eighths of its original scale. Behind the shrine buildings lies the sacred garden (shinen), designed by Ogawa Jihei (Uekishi VII), a leading landscape architect of the Meiji period, and designated a National Scenic Beauty.

The shrine's rank progressed from wartime official shrine (kanpei taisha) to its current status as a specially designated shrine. The grounds house several structures designated as Important Cultural Properties or Registered Tangible Cultural Properties, including the main hall, which was destroyed by arson in 1976 and reconstructed in 1979.

The annual Jidai Matsuri festival on 22 October, one of Kyoto's three great festivals, has been observed since the shrine's founding. Participants in period costume—numbering around 2,000—parade backwards through history from the Meiji Restoration to the Heian capital's establishment, commemorating the date of the original relocation. The sacred garden opens to public viewing during the spring cherry blossom season in April, and classical Noh performances are held by firelight (takigi nō) in June.