奈良県 · Kinki Region

Nara Hidden Gems

Nara was Japan's first permanent capital, from 710, and it was abandoned as a capital after seventy-four years — which turns out to be why so much of it survived. The court moved on, the great temples stayed, and because the city never became a major commercial centre it was never rebuilt over or, later, bombed. Todaiji's main hall is a reconstruction at two-thirds of its original width and is still one of the largest wooden buildings in the world; Horyuji, a short train ride southwest, has structures generally accepted as the oldest surviving timber buildings anywhere. The deer in the park are not decorative — they were protected for centuries as messengers of the Kasuga deity, killing one was a capital offence, and there are well over a thousand of them working the crowds today. South of the city the land rises into the Yoshino mountains, which have been planted with cherry trees as religious offerings since the Heian period.

20 spots

Climate & Best Season

A hot, humid basin in summer and cold in winter; the Yoshino mountains are cooler and see snow. Blossoms in April, foliage in November.

Famous For (Food)

Kakinoha-zushi
Miwa somen
Narazuke pickles
Kudzu sweets

Signature Sights

Todaiji & Nara Park
Kasuga Taisha
Horyuji (UNESCO)
Mt. Yoshino cherry blossoms

When to Go

Yoshino's cherries open in waves up the mountainside from the lower to the upper slopes across roughly two weeks in April, later than the city below. Nara Park's autumn colour peaks in mid to late November. The basin is hot and closed-in during summer, above 34°C in August, and cold in winter with January highs near 9°C — Yoshino gets snow. Two set-piece events are worth timing for: Omizutori at Todaiji, a fire rite running through the first two weeks of March, and the lantern lightings at Kasuga Taisha in early February and mid-August. Early morning in the park is when the deer are calmest.

Getting Around

Kintetsu-Nara Station is closer to the park and Todaiji than JR Nara, and Kintetsu limited expresses reach it in about 35 minutes from Osaka-Namba and 35 from Kyoto — so day-tripping from either city is straightforward. The main sights, from Kofukuji through Todaiji to Kasuga Taisha, are a single walk of a couple of kilometres. Horyuji is on the JR Yamatoji line with a short bus at the end. Yoshino is the long one: about an hour and a half from Osaka by Kintetsu, then a ropeway or a climb. The Asuka countryside is best by rental bicycle from Asuka Station. Buses into the southern mountains are sparse.

Local Food

Kakinoha-zushi is salted mackerel on rice wrapped in a persimmon leaf, invented in the mountains as a way of getting sea fish inland before refrigeration, and it is still the local packed lunch. Miwa, southeast of the city, claims the oldest somen tradition in Japan and hand-stretches the noodles in winter. Narazuke are vegetables pickled repeatedly in sake lees until they turn amber and taste faintly alcoholic. Yoshino makes kudzu into a thin, clear starch used for hot puddings and dumplings, best eaten in the mountain town where it is refined.

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