Nijō Street (二条通 にじょうどおり Nijō dōri) is a major street that crosses the center of the city of Kyoto from east to west, running for approximately 3.5 km from Shirakawa Street (east) to the Nijō Castle (west).[1]
Current day Nijō Street corresponds to the Nijō Ōji of the Heian-kyō, which according to records had a total wide of 51 meters (actual road section 43.8 meters wide), being the second widest road of the time, after the Suzaku Avenue.[2]
During the Edo period it was a drugstore district with the approval of the Tokugawa shogunate[3] and to this day some of these businesses still remain in the area.
From 1895 to 1926, a tram operated by the former Kyoto Electric Railway ran on the street, between Teramachi Street and Jingū Michi Street.
Nowadays the section west of Teramachi Street becomes a narrow one-way road. An important number of cultural, art and education related institutions are located in the vicinity of the street as well.