Tokyo | Kyoto | Nara | Nihon | Mt Fuji | Hakone | Nikko

Japan’s first permanent capital, now known as Nara, is full of historic treasures and scenic beauty. The city is compact, and the highlights can be packed into a day tour.

We clubbed our Nara tour along with a couple of things to see in Kyoto. We started our tour to Nara post lunch. There are mainly three interesting places to see here.

Todaiji Temple

The Great Eastern Temple is one of the most famous and significant temples in Japan. The massive building houses one of the largest Bronze statues of Buddha – Daibutsu. The seated statue is 15m tall and represents vairocana and is flanked by two bodhisattvas. Todaiji’s main hall – Daibutsuden, is the world’s largest wooden building.

Another attraction of this temple is the pillar with a hole in its base. It is believed that whoever is able to pass through this hole will be granted enlightenment in the next incarnation. The hole size is the same as the Daibutsu nostril.

I didn’t try to squeeze myself from the hole as there was a long line of people waiting for their turn, and two I was a little scared.

Nara Deer Park

The park is a home of 1000+ deer’s freely roaming. The deer are considered as messengers of god. The Deer are generally calm, but they get very aggressive once they sense you are feeding them. The crackers are for sale around the park. There are some deer who have learned to bow to visitors to ask them to feed. This site of deer was really interesting to see. It was super fun to feed them.

Kasuga Taisha

It is the most celebrated shrine of the city. It is famous for its lanterns, which have been donated by worshippers. Hundreds of lanterns are lined in the pathways of stones and bronze. The lanterns are lit only twice a year during the lantern festival held in February and August.

Apart from above mentioned, we also visited Nara Nagomikan, which is the largest souvenir shop in Nara.

Nara should definitely be part of an itinerary while visiting Japan.