Before Kyoto Gyoen was reconstructed into the present park during the Meiji Era, it was a town for court nobles with approximately 200 houses for court nobles built in the formation.
Around the time when the capital moved to Tokyo in 1869, the surrounding area of the Imperial Palace began deteriorating.
The Emperor Meiji, upon the return of His Majesty the Emperor to Kyoto in 1877, lamented over this sad state and gave orders for its reconstruction, Upon receiving the orders, "the Imperial Palace Preservation undertaking" was put into operation, and thus began the project of reconstructing the Imperial Palace Garden, and Kyoto Gyoen National Garden as It is presently known was established.