The original plan called for building the replica on the site of the actual Heian Palace, but the land could not be acquired. Instead, the shrine was constructed in the Okazaki district, designed by the architectural historian Ito Chuta, who would go on to become one of Japan's most influential figures in the study of Asian architectural history. The main hall mirrors the style of the Chodoin, the emperor's ceremonial palace, scaled to five-eighths of the original dimensions. The large red entrance gate is a reproduction of the Outenmon, the main gate of the Chodoin, and the entire composition evokes the style and grandeur of the Kyoto Imperial Palace as it appeared during the 11th and 12th centuries. After the 1895 Industrial Exposition ended, the exhibition buildings were removed, but the shrine remained -- transforming from a temporary monument into a permanent place of worship.

The shrine's most commanding feature is its massive torii gate, which straddles the approach road like a bright vermilion frame against the sky. Standing 24.4 meters tall with legs 3.6 meters in diameter, it was the largest torii in Japan when it was built. The gate is not at the shrine itself but set back along the approach, creating a dramatic sense of procession as visitors pass beneath its enormous crossbeam and walk the long sandō toward the shrine grounds. The vermilion paint against Kyoto's grey winter skies or the green of its summer trees has made this torii one of the most photographed structures in the city. The shrine holds the top rank -- Beppyo Jinja -- from the Association of Shinto Shrines, and is listed as an Important Cultural Property of Japan.

Behind the shrine buildings lies a Japanese strolling garden that covers approximately 33,000 square meters -- roughly half the total land area of the shrine complex. The garden was created by Ogawa Jihei VII, known by his professional name Ueji, one of the most celebrated landscape designers in Japanese history. He worked on the garden for more than twenty years, shaping it into four distinct sections: the East, Middle, West, and South gardens, each with its own character. Water for the ponds comes from the Lake Biwa Canal, the engineering marvel that channels water from Japan's largest lake through the mountains into Kyoto. The ponds shelter species that have become rare elsewhere in Japan, including the striped bitterling, the yellow pond turtle, and the Japanese pond turtle. Visitors can buy food at the ponds to feed the fish and turtles, a simple pleasure that has drawn families for over a century.

In 1976, disaster struck. A fire broke out in the shrine complex and nine buildings burned, including the honden, the main sanctuary. The loss was devastating for a structure that had been built to honor Kyoto's endurance through centuries. But the response was characteristically Japanese: a nationwide donation campaign raised the funds to rebuild, and within three years the burned structures were reconstructed. The shrine had already survived the upheavals that followed the Meiji Restoration, when Shinto was reorganized as a state religion and many shrines were restructured or merged. In 1940, the shrine expanded its dedication to include Emperor Komei, the last emperor to reign from Kyoto before the capital moved to Tokyo. Annual festivals still honor both emperors -- Komei in late January and Kanmu in early April -- keeping alive the memory of the rulers who bookended Kyoto's era as the seat of imperial power.

Heian Shrine sits today at the heart of the Okazaki cultural district, surrounded by museums, concert halls, and the Kyoto Municipal Zoo. The Jidai Matsuri, the Festival of Ages, begins here each October 22nd, sending a grand procession of participants dressed in costumes spanning twelve centuries of Kyoto history marching through the city streets. The shrine was built to remind Kyoto of its past, and it succeeded -- not as a frozen relic but as a living institution that anchors the cultural life of the city. The vermilion buildings glow in the afternoon light, the garden ponds reflect the changing seasons, and the enormous torii still frames the approach with a sense of ceremony that Ito Chuta intended more than a century ago.