Articles - Kyoto Prefecture(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-18)
Although in 1192 real political power shifted to Kamakura, where a samurai clan established the shogunate, Kyoto still remained as the imperial capital because the powerless emperors and their court continued to be seated in the city.
Kyoto is separated in the middle by the Tanba Mountains.
It is commonly said that to be a Kyoto citizen, one has to live for 10 generations and this is not a joke.