Nara Travel Guide

Nara was Japan’s first permanent capital, from 710 to 784, and it is the easiest major historical site in the country to visit. Almost everything worth seeing sits inside one large park within walking distance of the stations, which is why it works so well as a day trip and why so many people only give it a day.

That compactness is deceptive though. Nara holds eight UNESCO World Heritage sites, the largest wooden building in the world for most of its history, and a temple complex that predates almost everything in Kyoto by a century or more. Plus around a thousand deer that have learned to bow.

Todaiji and the Great Buddha

Todaiji is the reason Nara is on most itineraries. The Daibutsuden, the Great Buddha Hall, houses a bronze Buddha some fifteen metres high, cast in 752 and among the largest in the world. The building around it was rebuilt in 1709 at two thirds of its original width and was still, until recently, the largest wooden structure on earth.

The scale does not really come across in photographs. The hand alone is bigger than a person. Inside, one of the supporting pillars has a hole cut through its base, said to be the same size as the Buddha’s nostril, and children squeeze through it for luck while adults mostly decide against it.

Go early. Todaiji opens at half past seven for much of the year, and the hour before the coach parties arrive is a different experience entirely.

The deer

Around a thousand sika deer roam Nara Park freely. They are wild animals, not a petting zoo, and they are protected as sacred messengers in the Shinto tradition, which is why they have had the run of the place for centuries.

Vendors sell shika senbei, deer crackers, for a couple of hundred yen. The deer know exactly what the stacks look like and will follow, nudge and occasionally headbutt anyone holding them. Many have learned to bow, apparently by imitation, and will bob their heads at you in exchange for food.

They will also eat maps, tickets and paper bags given the chance, so keep your documents in a zipped pocket rather than a hand. Bites and shoves do happen, mostly to people who tease them by holding food back.

Kasuga Taisha and the lanterns

Kasuga Taisha is the grand Shinto shrine at the eastern edge of the park, founded in 768 and rebuilt every twenty years for much of its history in the same tradition as Ise.

The approach runs through forest lined with around 2,000 stone lanterns, with another thousand bronze lanterns hanging from the shrine buildings. They are lit twice a year, at Setsubun in February and Obon in August, and the effect is extraordinary. On ordinary days a dark interior corridor is kept lit to give a sense of it.

The rest of the park

Kofukuji sits nearest the town centre, with a five storey pagoda that is the second tallest in Japan and one of the enduring images of Nara. Its treasure hall holds some of the finest Buddhist sculpture in the country.

Isuien and Yoshikien are two adjacent gardens near Todaiji, quiet and often overlooked in the rush between the big sights. Yoshikien is free to foreign visitors.

Naramachi is the old merchant quarter south of Sarusawa Pond, a grid of narrow lanes and machiya townhouses now holding cafes, craft shops and small museums. It is where most of the day trippers are not, and worth an hour.

Further out

Horyuji, about forty minutes south west by train and bus, holds what are considered the oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world, dating from the late seventh century. It receives a fraction of the visitors that central Nara does, and for anyone seriously interested in Japanese architecture it is arguably the more important site.

Mount Wakakusa rises directly behind the park, a grassy hill with a good view back over the city. Every January it is set on fire in the Wakakusa Yamayaki festival, for reasons nobody entirely agrees on.

Where to stay

Most people do not stay, which is the argument for doing it. Accommodation clusters near Kintetsu Nara station, a few minutes from the park, and around JR Nara station slightly further west. Both are small scale compared with Kyoto or Osaka, and prices reflect that.

Naramachi has a handful of converted machiya guesthouses, which put you in the old merchant quarter rather than beside a station. There are also temple lodgings, or shukubo, at a few of the smaller temples, where you eat vegetarian temple food and can usually join the morning service.

Eating in Nara

Nara is not a food destination in the way Osaka is, but it has a few things worth seeking out. Kakinoha-zushi is the local speciality, sushi wrapped in a persimmon leaf, developed as a way of preserving fish carried inland from the coast. It keeps well and makes good picnic food for the park.

Miwa somen, thin wheat noodles from the nearby Miwa area, are said to be the origin of somen in Japan and are served cold in summer and in hot broth in winter. Narazuke are vegetables pickled in sake lees, sharp and an acquired taste, sold all over Naramachi.

For something more theatrical, Nakatanidou near Sarusawa Pond does high speed mochi pounding demonstrations several times a day, two men swinging a mallet at extraordinary pace, and sells the results warm.

The festivals

Nara’s festival calendar is unusually old, with several events running continuously for over a thousand years.

Omizutori at Todaiji runs through early March and culminates in monks carrying enormous burning torches along the balcony of the Nigatsudo hall, showering sparks over the crowd below. It has been held every year since 752.

Wakakusa Yamayaki in late January sets the entire grass hillside behind the park alight, preceded by fireworks. Kasuga Taisha’s lantern festivals at Setsubun in February and Obon in August light all 3,000 lanterns, and are worth planning a trip around if the dates align.

A note on the deer

The deer are not a sideshow, they are central to why Nara looks the way it does. They have been protected since a deity was said to have arrived in the city on a white deer in the eighth century, and killing one was a capital offence until 1637. That protection is why the park is open grassland rather than developed land.

They are managed rather than tame. The Nara Deer Preservation Foundation runs a programme each October to saw the antlers off the stags for public safety, a ceremony that dates from the seventeenth century. Rutting season in autumn makes the males more aggressive, and the signs warning about this are not decorative.

How long do you need

A half day covers Todaiji, the deer and Kofukuji at a brisk pace. A full day lets you add Kasuga Taisha, the gardens and Naramachi without hurrying, which is the right amount for most people.

Staying overnight is unusual and quietly rewarding. The park at dawn, with mist and deer and no people, is one of the better hours available in Japan, and every day tripper misses it.

Getting there and around

Nara is roughly 45 minutes from Kyoto and 45 minutes from Osaka, on either JR or the Kintetsu private line. Kintetsu Nara station sits closer to the park, a few minutes walk from Kofukuji. JR Nara station is about fifteen minutes further out.

Once you arrive, walk. The park is large but flat, and the distance from Kofukuji at one end to Kasuga Taisha at the other is a pleasant twenty five minutes through trees and deer. Buses loop the park if you would rather not, but walking is the better way to see it.

Practical tips

• Arrive early. Todaiji opens at half past seven much of the year, and the difference before nine is substantial.
• Guard your paper. Deer will eat maps, tickets and paper bags. Zip them away.
• Do not tease the deer with crackers. Hand them over promptly. Most incidents involve people holding food above their heads.
• Wear walking shoes. The park is bigger than it looks and the ground is uneven in places.
• Consider Horyuji. If you have a full day and any interest in architecture, it justifies the extra journey.
• Carry cash. Temple entry fees are cash only and run a few hundred yen each.

Frequently asked questions

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