Urban Farm DB
Research catalogue
Database research record2005·Japan (Kyoto)

Culture, agricultural basic complex and food, 2: Urban agriculture in Kyoto [Japan] as a capital city without murailles

Tatsurô Suehara

Medical Entomology and Zoology

Urban Farm DB summary

This article examines the history of urban agriculture in Kyoto, Japan, an ancient capital city unique for its lack of surrounding walls (murailles). The absence of these walls allowed residents to flexibly transform residential areas into agricultural fields during the medieval period, adapting to changing needs for crops like barley and vegetables over 1200 years. The author suggests that Miyako-Kyoto was likely the birthplace of Japanese urban agriculture, arguing that agricultural fields played a crucial role in its history, making it an agricultural city as well as a capital.