Yamashiro Province

was a province of Japan, located in Kinai. It overlaps the southern part of modern Kyoto Prefecture on Honshū. Aliases include , the rare , and . It is classified as an upper province in the Engishiki. Yamashiro Province included Kyoto itself, as in 794 AD Yamashiro became the seat of the imperial court, and, during the Muromachi period, was the seat of the Ashikaga shogunate as well. The capital remained in Yamashiro until its de facto move to Tokyo in the 1870s. History "Yamashiro" was formerly written with the characters meaning "mountain" and "era"; in the 7th century, there were things built listing the name of the province with the characters for "mountain" and "ridge"/"back". On 4 December 794 (8 Shimotsuki, 13th year of Enryaku), at the time of the establishment of Heian-kyō, because Emperor Kanmu made his new capital utilize the surroundings as natural fortification, the character for shiro was finally changed to "castle". Later shiro from the province name replaced the older ki as the Japanese reading for the character 城. Just from Nara period writings, it is apparent that the "area" and "ridge" listings coexisted.