Court returns to Heian-kyo after Kiyomori's failed Fukuhara capital in 1180

In mid-1180, the warlord Taira no Kiyomori, the dominant figure at the imperial court, moved the young Emperor Antoku and the court from Heian-kyo (modern Kyoto) to Fukuhara, on the coast of present-day Kobe. The site gave the Taira clan easy access to the Seto Inland Sea and to the sea trade they relied on, and it kept the court away from the powerful Buddhist monasteries around Kyoto.

The plan did not hold. Fukuhara lacked the palaces and infrastructure of a real capital, and many nobles objected to the move. Meanwhile, resistance to Taira rule spread. A rebellion called by Prince Mochihito earlier that year was followed by uprisings led by Minamoto no Yoritomo in eastern Japan, and the great temples near Kyoto and Nara remained hostile.

Around the end of 1180, after roughly six months, the court returned to Heian-kyo. Kiyomori died in 1181, and the Genpei War between the Taira and Minamoto clans continued until the Taira defeat in 1185. The short-lived Fukuhara capital is why archaeologists in Kobe still search for traces of its streets and buildings.