[Walking Through the Past and Present of Senbon-Dori Avenue]
Senbon-dori Avenue runs north to south through the city of Kyoto. Today, it is a calm residential street with cars and buses passing by and tightly-knit local shops lining the pavements. However, over the span of more than 1,200 years since the birth of Heian-kyo in 794, this road has possessed a rich history, dramatically transforming its role and appearance with each passing era. Let us trace these transitions to see what kind of purpose Senbon-dori served in various periods of time.
At the Senbon-Nijo intersection, where an ordinary urban landscape stretches out today, there once stood the magnificent Suzakumon Gate—a massive, vermilion-painted, two-story structure equivalent in height to a seven- or eight-story building. When Senbon-dori served as the main street of Heian-kyo, it was known as "Suzaku-oji," boasting an overwhelming scale that is hard to imagine from its current appearance. The width of the road was an astonishing 84m or so. It was far wider than Oike-dori in present-day central Kyoto, creating a vast straight space roughly 2.3 times the width of Omotesando in Tokyo.
The true reason why Suzaku-oji was considered one of the largest streets in the world at that time lies not just in its physical width, but in its meticulous urban planning, which was fully calculated to visualize the nation's ideals. At its foundation lay the "cosmic order," incorporating astronomical philosophy centered on the North Star and Feng Shui (Shijinsouou, or the principle of four guardian beasts) to harness the power of nature. This crystallized into a perfectly symmetrical, geometric design that pierced through the center of the capital. Foreign envoys and regional officials who passed through Rajomon Gate, the main southern entrance, gazed upon an unobstructed, straight vista extending for about 3.8km. In their line of sight, the grand Suzakumon Gate and palace complexes in the foreground perfectly merged with the ridges of Funaoka-yama and the Kitayama mountains in the background along a single axial line. This breathtaking panorama was a main street built with national prestige on the line, designed to visually showcase Japan's national strength and the authority of the Emperor.
However, from the middle of the Heian period onward, as the western side of the capital declined, maintaining such a massive avenue became impossible, and the road's width grew narrower and narrower. The once-brilliant name of "Suzaku" vanished, and the avenue took on a completely different character in the medieval period. The background of how it came to be named "Senbon-dori" (the street of a thousand posts) is connected to the fact that this road served as the entrance to Rendaino, a burial ground located in the northwest of the capital. In this place, which could be described as the boundary between this world and the afterlife, sotoba (wooden grave posts) were erected to pray for the repose of the deceased. While various theories exist, it is said that the name "Senbon-dori" originated from the sight of a thousand sotoba standing around Senbon Enma-do (Injo-ji Temple), which was later founded based on a shrine where Ono no Takamura carved a statue of Enma Daio (the King of Hell).
When the main hall of Senbon Shaka-do (Daihoon-ji Temple)—a National Treasure that was built during the Kamakura period and miraculously escaped the fires of the Onin War—was constructed in 1227, the tragic tale of Okame, the master carpenter's wife, was born. It was during the Edo period that this legend gained explosive popularity, becoming a symbol of a wife's devotion to supporting a craftsman, marital harmony, and matchmaking. As the surrounding area entered the golden age of Nishijin-ori (Nishijin weaving), Senbon-dori turned into a neighborhood street bustled with artisans and merchants. The road transformed into a vibrant industrial avenue of the common people, filled with the rhythmic "clack-clack" sound of weaving looms echoing from all directions.
From the late Meiji period to the early Showa period, Senbon-dori underwent another dramatic evolution, reaching its peak as one of Kyoto's premier entertainment districts. Renowned alongside Kawaramachi as "Kawaramachi in the east, Senbon in the west," it was a sanctuary of entertainment that remained as bright as day even at night. The catalyst for this boom was the streetcar (shiden) that opened in 1912. The trams ran so close to the eaves of the narrowed Senbon-dori that they practically brushed past them, drawing crowds from all over the city. Furthermore, a flourishing cinema culture blossomed around the Senbon-Nakadachiuri area. Centered around the Senbonza theater, which had been reborn from a playhouse into a movie theater, Shozo Makino (known as the father of Japanese cinema) and Matsunosuke Onoe (Japan's first movie star) were highly active, leading the dawn of Japanese film. It is said that the Senbon-dori of that era was filled with enthusiasm night after night, packed with modern boys and Nishijin artisans finishing their day's work. A glimpse of that glorious past can still be caught today in the Nishijin Kyogoku bar district, located between Imadegawa-dori and Marutamachi-dori.
Today, Senbon-dori supports people's lives as a gentle residential road. Yet, the streetscape has not simply forgotten its past. In a residential area just northeast of Senbon-Marutamachi, there is Uchino Children's Park, where local children play. Tucked away quietly in a corner of this park stands a stone monument marking the Site of Daigokuden, the main palace building of Heian-kyo. The former center of the capital has now blended into the everyday scenery where local elderly residents take strolls and children run around. Walking down the street, the sight of the Senbon Nikkatsukan theater, which once generated waves of excitement, has transformed into an office building, while an atmospheric machiya townhouse built by Shozo Makino in 1914 shows a new face as a cafe. Rather than displaying its grand history as something elite, the street seems to gently blend the passage of time into the rhythm of daily life.
From a symbol of national prestige and a path to burial grounds, to a bustling entertainment district and a peaceful daily street, the history walked by this single road stays fully alive within Senbon-dori, which has continually changed its shape over 1,200 years. Why not take a leisurely walk while listening to the memories of the past sleeping throughout this casual streetscape?
Imadegawa Showroom
https://www.shokunin.com/en/showroom/imadegawa.html
References
https://www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp/somu/rekishi/fm/ishibumi/html/si057.html
https://kyotolove.kyoto/I0000136/
http://yenmado.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%83%E6%9C%AC%E9%80%9A
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%83%E6%9C%AC%E5%BA%A7
