One Day in Nara, Japan 🇯🇵steemCreated with Sketch.

in travel •  7 years ago  (edited)

In 2017, we left Osaka (大阪) early in the morning for a one-hour train ride to Nara (奈良). We had only one day left before taking the plane home from Tokyo the next day.
Our intent was to take a stroll through the city and visit the eponymous park bordered by temples, shrines and ruins.
Indeed, Nara, an ancient capital of Japan during the 8th Century, is known for its eight temples and other religious buildings ; 29 of them registered as National Treasures!

As such, we were expecting the park to be crowded. In retrospect, for a Saturday, it was not so bad. Yes we saw dozens of buses pouring tourists one after the other, and it was noisy, but it seemed like most of them just wanted to see the Tōdai-ji (more on that later). However, if you are planning to visit different cities during your trip to Japan, maybe think about choosing a weekday to visit Nara, or/and try to get there early in the morning.

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We chose to take the Kintetsu Line from Osaka, because it stopped at the Kintetsu-Nara Station, ideally placed just 150 meters away from the Kōfuku-ji, one of the aforementioned eight temples, and itself a stone throw's from the Nara Park.

A few meters before the temple, we received a warming welcome from the other Nara inhabitants: deer!
Contrary to Miyajima's, Nara's deer have trained themselves, through generations, to bow to humans to get food. It's also pretty cool to see them roaming around freely in and around the park minding their own business, comfortable among humans. There is a form of mutual respect as deer are regarded as messengers of the gods in the Shinto religion.

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No, that's not me but a random cool dude with a deer!

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After that greeting, we returned back to the path leading to the Kōfuku-ji, a Buddhist Temple comprised of various buildings, among them two pagodas, one a five-story and the other a three-story.

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Tō-kondō (東金堂 ), and Gojū-no-tō (五重塔 ), the five-story pagoda, both National Treasures of Japan

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Nan'endō (南円堂), housing another National Treasure

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We knew there was still much to be seen and our time was limited, so we continued straight east, towards the Nara National Museum. We briefly sat for a quick drink on a bench next to a small pond on the eastern side of the museum, observing people giving food to deer and taking pictures with them.

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I liked you, pond with no name

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We got back on the track and finally entered Nara Park. Our eyes were immediately attracted south to a big (really big) tree, more than thousand-year old:

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Camphor tree in Nara Park. I checked for totoros, but saw none.
Also, I managed to take a picture without anyone, but I prefere this one with some humans for scale!

If you are a Totoro fan, you must have already recognized it as a camphor tree, where the totoro spirits dwell. We did not see any, but they only show up at their own pleasure, right ?!

After that unexpected encounter we returned to the path leading east, towards the shrines and temples. It was like progressively entering a forest with more and more trees and deer. But as we were getting closer to the Kasuga-taisha shrine (春日大社), we started to see more and more stone lanterns on both sides of the road!

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The Kasuga-taisha shrine has been established in 768 CE and rebuilt several times over the centuries. It is the shrine of the Fujiwara clan, a powerful family of regents. The interior is famous for its many stone and bronze lanterns of which I think I managed to take cool pics (I already shared that second picture on steemit, I just love it)

Kasuga-taisha

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💡 Why does bronze and brass turn green over time? It is because of chemical reactions between the copper in those alloys and the atmosphere. (source: Google/Quora)

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We left the temple by the western exit, and clearly took an unusual path that goes north-east. After a few hundred meters it felt wrong because we had to walk on the edge of a road where cars are allowed, but it was only for a few minutes and we saw none anyway. Instead of entering the alley bordered by stores that leads to a pack of temples and shrines, we entered by the back and saw cherry trees, and a wedding photo-shoot!

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Pretty much sure it was the photographer's bike!

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Finally, continuing ahead north, we arrived at a place surrounded by dozens of religious buildings. One of them is the Nigatsu-do (二月堂). It is part of the Todai-ji (東大寺) temple complex and offers a panoramic view of Nara as well as a sneak peek at the main edifice. The weather was a bit cloudy, but just imagine how more impressive the view could be if you could see all Nara (and more) in front of you.

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A few stairs lead to....

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... this panoramic view of Nara, with the tip of the Todai-ji showing up too.

After a short break, we pursued on a narrow path circulating between other buildings of the complex. After a few hundred meters, we finally arrived at the front of the Daibutsuden (大仏殿 ), the Great Buddha Hall.

It's big! Actually, until 1998, it was the biggest wooden building in the world. While it does not hold this record anymore, it has another notable trait, one you cannot see until you gaze inside: the world's largest bronze Buddha Vairocana. No wonder (pun intended) the temple is both a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site and a National Treasure of Japan.
Also, as I 've said earlier, this is the place where you'll encounter the most people. It's similarly crowded as Asakusa's Sensō-ji in Tokyo, if you've been there.

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Tada! The Daibutsuden, Great Buddha Hall... again people for scale!

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Full front façade (through smoke)

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Bronze status of the Buddha Vairocana. Picture found on the great kanpai.fr website

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We finished on a high note, but unfortunately, it was time to get back... It felt like we barely touched the surface of what Nara had to offer. But we needed to walk to the JR Nara station to take the train on the Yamatoji Line as it was taking us closer to our destination in Osaka.
Before that though, we stopped at a coffee in Higashimuki's shopping arcade, close to the Kintetsu station. If you have a few minutes before your train, this is a great place with a healthy choice of restaurants and coffee places.

Here is our trip:
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It's only 7.5km (6.2km plus 1.3km to the JR station), and we certainly did not see everything but we did not rush either. Usually, we can achieve close to 12km to 15km a day, but with a trolley and a baby, we had to pause from time to time as good parents do to feed their child, taking (a lot of) pictures and of course change diapers! 😉

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The story and the pictures are all by me with the exception of the photo of Buddha Vairocana credited to kanpai.fr. Please upvote, comment, resteem as much as you want, I'd certainly appreciate positive/negative critic as I want to get better at sharing good travel memories, moreover when it's about Japan 🇯🇵!

Thank you very much for reading this!

終わり / The end!

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Thats a cool story @jalayn. Those deer all look like babies, were there any big ones around?

Thanks @slobberchops! That's a very good point, I did not notice that.

I did some research and it turns out that there are Antler Cutting Ceremonies (that one can assist to for ¥1000). The antlers are presented as offering at the Kasuga Shrine mentioned in this post.
The main goal is to avoid injured tourists, maybe too close to more aggressive specimen. Also, it is also a good way to avoid trees being damaged by antlers.

I also checked some of the pics I have of Miyajima and the deer there definitely have antlers, so it's not the same everywhere.

Now that's yet another interesting fact about Nara!

Looks like somewhere to explore when we return to Japan. We just had a few days in Tokyo before.

The Osaka/Nara combo is definitely common and worth it. As I mentioned at the end, there is way more to see in Nara. And yet, we were already amazed by the small part we saw.

Also brief aparté about Osaka: I loved this city at least as much as Tokyo, if not more. It's strange, I cannot exactly pinpoint why though... I might have to psychoanalyze this 😉

Wow, japan is truly amazing!

It is! I've been there twice, planning to go there as a reward for officially being over forty 😉 Honestly there is noy a day going by that I do not have at least one picture of Japan fleeting in my mind.

Thanks @jalayn for this post about Nara!
I've never been to Japan, but posts like yours make me certainly want to visit!
I loved your pictures of the stone and brass lanterns, looks like a truly serene place.

Thanks @vliet! I am very happy to share my love of Japan and know that it can play a small part in deciding more people to travel there. There is no shortage of things to see whether you like cities, ancient/new, nature, mountains, forests, beaches, fauna, etc. Also you will be received by Japanese people.
And you are right the Kasuga Shrine is very serene. Even when a little bit crowded, there is something there that just encourages people to lower their voice and respect the place.

There seems to be something for everyone in Japan ;-)
Hopefully, one day I'll have a chance to visit!

Hi @jalayn! I'm yoyo(よよnotよーよー) from Nara! It was great post and it seems you know about Jpn very well...( I also visited your fr website) I live just 20 min. walk distance from those area, so I feels like I walk around with your photos... hahaha! seems you could come here cherry blossom seasons which also good for you I guess... I'm looking forward to your next post here! cheers... 🍻

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Thank you very much @yo-yo! It is humbling me that I managed to please you and not bore you with pictures of your city 😊 I am jealous of you being able to stroll in the park whenever you want! 😉

Nara was the last stop in our trip, so cherry blossom was pretty much over but there were still some flowers left on the trees, so not that bad. But yes, it must be even better when they are blossoming.

I have more material about Miyajima, Osaka, Hiroshima for example but it is going to take some time before I manage to deliver full stories like this one.
Thank you very much for your encouragement!
乾杯! 🍻

Sure... I can imagine it will take long time to create this quality of post! And I also not so long time since I start steemit, so sometimes I wonder I should keep writing or not... hahaha... but sometimes I met people who try to understand the value or my post, that's encourage me a lot... so anyway, No stress and I'll enjoy another post you share... followed and restreemed. Have fun! 🌸

Thank you! It sure is hard to not be discouraged sometimes when we write (what we think are) cool posts. I see it as practice to get better. You are right, sometimes comments such as yours are the thing that keeps people going forward and continue.

Thank for you for re-steeming me, I hope to be entertaining to the Japanese Steemit community!

absolutely! Arigato 😊

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Thank you very much @jeanpi1908! I did not know about @OCD, another day goes by and yet another thing I learn about steemit! I will certainly check it out for my next posts.

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Nara seriously looks like an amazing place to visit! It's very hard for me to imagine having nearly tame deer, as all the ones I've seen in my life have been fairly skittish! Great post, looking forward to more!

Oh! I did not know you had a daily travel digest!!! Thank you very much for selecting me, and thanks for this great, so easy to use web app!
And yes it takes some time to get used to deer just brushing against you like it's no big deal! Also, there are certainly other places where deer roam freely, but Miyajima is another one I know, and totally worth seeing.

Thanks again!

Well, I'm glad this managed to show you the #traveldigest's, haha!

You're very welcome, it was a great post. Japan was never that high on my to-visit list somehow, but due to posts on Steemitworldmap it's climbing higher and higher on that list though, haha!

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Hi @jalayn.
Nice to meet you
Your posts are easy to read and have beauty.
It will be a good reference to me. Thank you.
I live in Kyoto since 2014.
I often visit Nara and Osaka!

Hey @noteman, nice to meet you too!
Thank you very much for your compliments, it's a real pleasure to read these words and very rewarding.
How lucky you are to live in Kyoto and be able to visit such fine places around you. I hope you will share with us some interesting stories about the life in Kyoto.
Cheers!

Hi @jalayn! Nice to meet you.
I live in Japan. And I love trip.
So I'm glad for your trip to my country.
I had been to Todai-ji, but I don't have been to around. So I want to go to the around of Todai-ji for beautiful spot!

Hey there! Thank you, I do love your country!
It's well worth spending time in the park, further off the Todai-ji, so many nice things to see!

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