Nara - an Ancient and Magical City

The next stop on our whirlwind tour of Japan’s most beautiful temples and cultural heritage sites brought us to the ancient capital of Japan, pre-dating Kyoto, the picturesque city of Nara.

Nara is a city, like Kyoto, built around many stunning temples and shrines, but unlike Kyoto, the majority of the temples are within close walking distance of one another. This, for me, greatly added to the charm of Nara, as the shrine complexes collectively known as Nanto Shichi Daiji, being so tightly knit, encompassed your body and mind and almost transported you back into the period which they were constructed. Kyoto, while possessing some of the most stunning and serene sanctuaries, has temples intermingled with grey office buildings and mundane city structures. The charm of Nara was unmistakable, and enthralled every traveller I queried as to which city they favoured (on a historical/tourist basis).

Nara

Nara was the ancient capital of Japan from 710 CE to 794 CE, the Nara period, though historical capitals were established in the Nara prefecture for centuries before. Nara today is a city of nearly 400,000 with multiple universities and businesses supporting development, though centric to Nara’s ethos is tourism. Directly south of Kyoto, or immediately east of Osaka, Nara is very well connected.

Emerging from the JR express train from Osaka, wide eyed and excited to see the sites, we are immediately greeted by one of Nara’s main attractions. Wild, though tame, deer, which roam freely through the temple complexes and downtown area of Nara. Cute and demure, these deer have learned that bowing, as is customary throughout Japan, will reap rewards from tourists. Local sellers of ‘deer cookies’ offer bundles of biscuits (presumably designed with the deer’s nutrition in mind) for a small sum, which tourists can then hand out to the friendly deer.

Bowing Nara Deer

Kōfuku-ji - Tō-kondō

After a short walk from the train station through verdant, scenic park land, we arrive in the large, what one could call, ‘temple complex’. Wandering along the gravel paths, we arrive at Kōfuku-ji, a Buddhist temple complex founded in 669 CE, comprised of the Tō-kondō, the East Golden Hall housing a Golden Buddha, the Five Story Pagoda, the Three Story Pagoda, and also pictured here is the South Octagonal Hall, Nan’endō, though many more buildings were also dotted around the Buddhist compound.

5 Story Pagoda

Nan’endō

3 Story Pagoda

Nara deer just chilling out in the shade

Moving on from Kōfuku-ji, and after seeing some more minor temples, we head for the infamous Tōdai-ji, the Eastern Great Temple. Dating from around 728 CE, Tōdai-ji is one of the most imposing and remarkable complexes I’ve witnessed in Japan, housing the massive Nandaimon, the Great Southern Gate, which leads on to a second, more ornate gate and wall which surrounds the immense building that is the Daibutsuden. The Daibutsuden is breath-taking in its sheer size. To think a wooden building of this magnitude was built nearly 1300 years ago, it just staggers the mind.

Nandaimon

Inner Wall

Daibutsuden

Nara Daibutsu

Housed inside the Daibutsuden is the equally impressive Nara Daibutsu, or Giant Buddha. A Vairocana-style seated Buddha, the world’s largest, crafted entirely of bronze, sits at an extraordinary 49.1 feet tall. Inside the Buddha is reputedly the teeth and relics of the Emperor Shomu. Surrounding the Buddha are Guardian statues, such as Tamonten pictured here, a God of War. 

Tamonten

An additional incentive to visit the Daibutsuden is to attempt the temple pillar, or Buddha’s nose, as the hole (pictured below) is the same size as the Daibutsu’s nostril. Those who can fit through this small crevice are said to achieve enlightenment in their next life!

Buddha's nostril

Also popular in this temple was Binzuru – healer statue – where you were to touch/rub him where you needed healing and he will bless you - and potentially heal you!

Binzuru

Finishing off our trip through Nara we head up Mount Wakakusa. As we headed up the mountain, several signs warned of the poisonous snakes, and even more worrying – the dengue fever carrying mosquitos. Oh well… after already having several insect bites, we forage on. That said, it was a serene, gentle climb up to a small peak which offered stunning views of Nara and the surrounding lowlands.

Snakes!

Nara

Mountain Peak

All in all, an amazing city (with great restaurants) which offered up one of the most enthralling visits in to ancient Japan. Stay tuned for my next adventure which took me to the southern island of Kyushu!