DestinationNara, Kansai, Japan
Nara, Japan's First Permanent Capital
Eighth-century temples on a human scale
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3.02 reviews
Before Kyoto there was Nara. Its great temples, five-storey pagodas and quiet lanes reward an overnight stay rather than a rushed afternoon.
A capital before Kyoto
From 710 to 784, Nara was the seat of the imperial court, and in those seventy-four years it absorbed Buddhism, Chinese city planning and Silk Road art at astonishing speed. The result is a cluster of temples so old that their wooden halls appear in architecture textbooks the world over.
The centrepiece is Todai-ji, whose Great Buddha Hall was for centuries the largest wooden building on Earth. The fifteen-metre bronze Daibutsu inside is overwhelming, and behind it a pillar with a hole the size of the Buddha's nostril tests whether you are small enough to crawl through and be granted enlightenment.
Most visitors give Nara half a day. We suggest a night. After five o'clock the day-trippers leave, the deer settle on the lawns and the lanterns of Kasuga Taisha glow in the forest. Stay in a ryokan in Naramachi, eat persimmon-leaf sushi for dinner and walk Nara Park at seven the next morning, when it is just you, the deer and the temple bells.
The Great Buddha Hall
Nara is where Japan learned to be Japan.Saki Sakura, founder of Sakura Journeys
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Saki SakuraAuthor
Sakura JourneysPublisher
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Write a reviewAverage rating 3.0 out of 5
2 reviews- MRMarco Rossi5 out of 5 stars7 Aug
Thoughtful, precise and full of small details, like which station exit to use. Brilliant.
- FIFatima Zahra El Idrissi1 out of 5 stars6 Apr
We went the week this recommends and it was the busiest we have ever seen. Expected more warning.
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