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Kyoto

American  
[kee-oh-toh, kyaw-taw] / kiˈoʊ toʊ, ˈkjɔ tɔ /
Or Kioto

noun

  1. a city on S Honshu, in central Japan: the capital of Japan a.d. 794–1868.


Kyoto British  
/ kɪˈəʊtəʊ, ˈkjəʊ- /

noun

  1. a city in central Japan, on S Honshu: the capital of Japan from 794 to 1868; cultural centre, with two universities (1875, 1897). Pop: 1 387 264 (2002 est)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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This entry follows the samurai Miyamoto Musashi as he explores a fantastical version of Edo-period Kyoto.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 30, 2026

Her parents did not support her early moves to study painting in Kyoto.

From BBC Aug. 27, 2026

Kusama studied Japanese painting in Kyoto, against her parents' wishes, and held her first solo exhibition in 1952 in her hometown of Matsumoto in central Japan.

From Barron's Aug. 27, 2026

More than 20 years later, a Kyoto University research team has returned to the fossils and uncovered new details about their identity.

From Science Daily Jul. 24, 2026

Perhaps because it contains some of Japan’s best agricultural land, where super-expensive Kobe beef is raised today, and where Japan’s ancient capital was located at Kyoto until the capital’s shift to Tokyo in 1868.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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