Katsura Imperial Villa
building in Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
The Katsura Imperial Villa or Katsura Detached Palace (桂離宮, Katsura Rikyū; Japanese pronunciation: [ka.tsɯ.ɾa ɾʲiꜜ.kʲɯː]) is an Imperial residence with associated gardens and outbuildings in the western suburbs of Kyoto, Japan. Located on the western bank of the Katsura River in Katsura, Nishikyō-ku, the Villa is 8km distant from the main Kyoto Imperial Palace. The villa and gardens are nationally recognized as an Important Cultural Property of Japan.
The grounds of the villa are regarded as a notable exemplar of traditional Japanese gardening. Tea ceremony houses within the strolling gardens and the main villa itself are all sited to maximize appreciation of varied foliage and changing seasonal vistas.
The palace originally belonged to the prince of the Hachijō-no-miya (八条宮) family. The Imperial Household Agency currently administers the site. Although the Imperial Villa itself is not open to visitors, public tours of the gardens are available by appointment.
History
The Katsura district of Kyoto has long been favored for villas, and in the Heian period, Fujiwara no Michinaga had a villa there. The members of the Heian court found it an elegant location for viewing the Moon.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Katsura Imperial Villa” is building in Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Katsura, Imperial and Villa, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “building in Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1736808. VIAF identifies the subject as 148296651. Authority coordinates are 34.984, 135.709. 1 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Katsura Imperial Villa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.