Tell any Japanese citizen that you just went to Nara, and 99.7625% of the time, they will respond, “Oh, I Love Nara.” The Japanese rarely use the word love. Oh they like things. Things are interesting – “imoshiroi” – or stylishly cool – “steki.” There are places they will tell you to go. There are things they will encourage you to do. But to evoke such a hallowed response, well, there is only one place: Nara.
Nara was the first permanent capital of Japan. Around the 7th century, Buddhism became the national religion replacing Shinto. Shinto custom dictated that the capital be moved after each Emperor’s death. 
Buddhism had no such taboos. Nara, already influencial with its religious power base, was a logical selection as the country started to come together under its first imperial family . The Nara period lasted about seventy years, a period heavily influenced by Chinese culture. Nara was selected as the capital because it rises above the Yamato plain. The Yamato clan had risen to power, and from it came Japan’s first emperors. These emperors were buried in kofun (burial mounds) which still dot the area; some dating back to the third century. The capital was moved to Kyoto around 800, where it would remain till 1868. Nara has faded quietly and peacefully into the historical background, and maintains an unassuming, nearly bucolic nature.
Nara, the current town, is a very unassuming place. Granted this impression may be in part due to the fact that we live in Tokyo, a city that is constantly moving up. When I say up, I mean way up. In our little corner of Tokyo the signs of growth are all around us. A gross 40-story monstrosity is rising up on the other side of the Nippori station; this drawfs a recently completed 20-story building adjacent to the station; a 15-story apartment building is going up two blocks from us; a massive apartment building is going up at the end of the Yanaka Ginza – quaint Edo-style shopping street – where a pleasant beer garden played home to a bunch of cats – the Yanaka neco dan dan – and one crazy cat-loving woman that fed them tuna from the 100 yen store every day. Tokyo is concrete, stacked high. Nara, on the other hand, still has a feel of a town that is spreading out; not yet up. Nara is a town with a train station that is so small, folks wait for their trains outside the station. A station master calls out when the next train is due in, and folks filter through the turnstiles and up to the platform, just minutes before the next train comes in.
In the area immediately around Nara station, there are a few 5-10 story buildings. But start walking up the shopping street toward Nara Koen – Nara Park – and most things are only three –five stories tall. And if you keep walking and end up in the Naramachi section – the old section of the town, you won’t even see anything taller than three stories. We stayed in a small ryokan -Japanese inn – in the Naramachi section, just blocks away from Nara Koen, its pond, and the wooden five-storied pagoda of Kofuku-ji.
Nara is home to eight UNESCO World Heritage sites (only Kyoto, with seventeen, has more), most of which are located in Nara Koen. Oh, and deer. Nara has deer. 
About ten million by my count. Ten Million tame deer. Ten million tame deer that spend their days lines up next to vendors selling the ubiquitous Nara deer crackers – thin round wafers, about the diameter of a softball. Did I mention that these are smart deer? Ten million smart tame deer. How do I know they are smart? Because, in the mornings, most of them can be found cueing up in front of the umbrellas of the deer cracker vendors on the edge of the park, waiting for the early tourists. By mid-day, they have migrated up to the park where they then cue up outside the small restaurants. In the evening, you can find them on the roads heading back to town, looking for that last deer cracker hit.
On the western end of Nara Koen, across the street from the small pond, is Kofuku-ji, a temple that was moved to Nara from Kyoto around 700. Well, actually it isn’t there. They are rebuilding it, so it’s a construction site. But if you show up sometime in late 2010, you can visit Kofuku-ji. Nara will be celebrating the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of the capital of Heijyo-kyo, now the city of Nara in 2010. The reopening of Kofuku-ji is of course part of the planned celebration. Till then, you can still see some of the elaborately decorated granaries as well as two pagodas. The shorter of the two, is a wooden three-story pagoda that was built in 1140. The taller wooden five-story pagoda was built around 1420. The pagodas are striking in their simplisity; and easily hold their own as the primary focus of this site in absence of its temple.
Nara is one of the places my wife visited when she lived here as a student. She remembered the deer. She remembered Todai-ji – or rather the hole in the one pillar (see below). And she remembered this ONE statue. I rarely have success getting my wife into a gallery, much less a museum with art and sculptures. So when she said she really wanted to see this one statue again, I quickly agreed. The Kofuku-ji National Treasure Museum sets unimpressively in the middle of small parking lot. While the museum building fits into its surroundings as smoothly as a double-wide trailer in a subdivision full of McMansions; its contents are clearly in the right neighborhood. The museum contains statues and art work that have somehow survived a number of fires. The highlight of the exhibit are a series of six statues that date from the mid-700′s. These are six of the eight supernatural guardians of Buddha. Their craftsmanship, detail and beauty despite their age and damage is striking. The center statue of this group is that of Ashura, a three-faced, six-armed Buddhist god that dates back to 734.The extremely tranquil looking front face maintains a pale crimson hue – an exquisite piece of art. It is well worth this quick detour to check out this set of statues.
Nigatsu-do, which is part of the Todai-ji complex (see below), sets East and up the mountain from Todai-ji’s bell tower and Daibutsu-den. This quick stop is worth the hike for the striking view of the Nara plain it offers. We also hiked over to Kasuga Taisha, which is surrounded by a protected forest. Fushimi-Inari has torii; Kasuga Taisha has big stone lanterns. The stone lanterns line the road up to its entrance where half the population of the smart tame deer abide. These are the well cultured deer, prefering to dine on their deer crackers by candle (lantern) light.
Aside from the statue of Ashura, the biggest highlights of this trip were are first and last stops. Our first stop of the morning was Todai-ji, a temple of mammoth proportions. Most temples have large mon – gates – you pass through on your way to the temple. Todai-ji, as if to let you know what is in store, has an enormous wooden mon that stands nearly four-stories tall. As you pass through the gate, there are two 28-feet tall statues that stand in niches on each side. These Nio, or dancing gods, where carved in the twelfth century by Unkei, and restored for the first time in 1991.
The main feature of Todai-ji is the Daibutsu-den, literally the Hall for the Buddha. The Daibutsu-den is the world’s largest all wooden structure standing 48 meters high (about 15-stories), 57 meters long and 50 meters wide (roughly half of a football field). The current version of the building has been standing since 1709 and is only two-thirds the size of the original building. Inside is a 16 meter-tall Daibutsu or great Buddha, making him a little taller and bigger than the Daibutsu in Kamakura (the one that lost its den in a Tsunami). The Nara Daibutsu was originally cast in 746, but has been recast a number of times since then because earthquakes and fires take their toll after awhile.
The main Daibutsu is flanked on both sides by slightly smaller gold Buddhas. All three set on a large raised platform that fills the center of the hall. A walk around the Buddhas reveals other sculptures from the original temple buildings, and a section of one of the original pillars which was nearly as wide as our seven year old daughter is tall. One of the current back pillars, at ground level, has a hole. It is believed that if you can 
pass through this space, you will have good luck. If you visit Todai-ji, you will want to arrive early so you don’t have to wait in line to pass through. The hole, in case you are wondering is just big enough for a six- or seven-year old child to crawl through easily. For adults, good luck comes with more difficulty. The one benefit of standing in line for your good-luck-hole squeeze is the running debate of whether to go through with both arms in front or only one. And for the record, good luck must be earned by oneself. The pulling or manually aiding of another person passing through the hole negates that person’s luck. My wife and daughter passed through without difficulty. For the record, my wife took the one arm ahead, one arm back approach and did not embarrass herself. I took the luck that comes from those who wait (and laugh at others) approach…someone had to take the pictures.
Our last stop of the day was the Isui-en garden. We strolled over and went in right before it closed, this combined with the fact that it was
sprinkling meant we had the nearly three-acre garden all to ourselves…what better way to enjoy a Meiji era garden. This is easily the most beautiful Japanese garden I have seen. It contains two ponds, a handful of tea huts and houses. The most dramatic view is from the back tea house which over looks the bigger of the two ponds. A small water fall runs at the far end of the pond down a hill that seems to naturally roll onto a slightly higher level in the far east end of the garden. Through the tree line you can make out an eave of the Daibutsu-den and Mount Wakakusa that rises behind it. I would attempt to describe this in more detail, but strongly encourage you to visit this amazing pictorial view of Isui-en garden that places you in the middle of the garden. (Make sure you the button to open the full screen view and then use your mouse to turn 360 degrees!) Sometimes words are simply not enough.
What else can I say, I love Nara.
You can click on the pictures below and view them individually or click “slideshow” and view them as a small slideshow.
We have been to Nara twice and have stayed at Ryokan Matsumae both times. This ryokan is run by a lovely couple. It is conveniently located in the historical Naramachi district of Nara which is just a few blocks from Kofuku-ji and the koen.
The official website for the city of Nara.
This is a link to the JapanTimes newspaper’s June 11, 2008 article about a new guidebook/magazine for Nara in English being released for the 1300th anniversary of the town in 2010. Or you can go directly to the NaraExplorer magazine website.
Posted November 15, 2007