A day in Nara - deers and wine

byDianeM83

185 followers

3 years ago

After my day in Kyoto, where you can find the description here, I headed off to Nara, another town in the Kansai region. Nara was actually the first capital of Japan for 74 years during the VIII century. Its twin town is Versailles. You can visit Nara in a day. I only had a half-day for my part.

Nara Park and its deer

Founded in 1880, the Nara park is a public (free) park in Nara, which lies on a 502HA area at the foot of Mount Wakakusa. 1200 deers call this park home. You can easily buy some "shika-senbei" and feed the deer. However, be careful, because these are very greedy deers and you will have more following you than you have biscuits!

The national museum of Nara, founded in 1889 and opened to public in 1895, can be found in this park. This art museum is mostly centered around bouddhism art. It is also a publishing house and publishes various academic works as well as the Bulletin of the National Museum of Nara since 1999

The park is also home to the Todaji temple, the Kofuku-ji temple and theKasugataisha Shrine! Enjoy a match ice-cream along the way.

Todaji Temple - Great Buddha Hall

Built when Nara was the capital of Japan (710-794) in order to worship the Vairocana Buddha ("Budda that shines throughout the world like the sun" or the Buddha in the Kegon Sutra), this temple servces both as a place of prayer for peace as well as a center of Buddhist doctrinal research. It was foudned bu the bishop Roben and is to this day the Head Temple of the Kegon Sect of Buddhism.

The Great Buddha Hall was burned in the fires of war in 1180 and 1567, and the current building is actually the third generation strucutre, wich was built in the Edo period. The width of the current building is approximately 33% smaller than that of the original structure, but it is still one of the largest wooden structures in the world.

The statue of Vairocana Buddha is mande from cast bronze, which was then plated with gold. The statue was consecrated in 752, but was damaged and repaired several times in the following centuries. The current hands of the statue were made in the Momyama period (1598-1615à and the head was made in the Edo period (1615-1867). The height of the body is 14,98m, the length of the head is 5,33m, the length of the eye is 1,02m and the length of the ear is 2,54m.

Looking for wine? Allez le trèfle! (or in Japan : アレ！！ル　トレッフル)

After a ten-minute walk from Nara Park, I walked in this small wine bar, with ABBA music playing in the background : you feel at home! The owner speaks English and a little French. It provides only japanese wine, which makes it the perfect place to discover the wine regions in Japan. It also cooks meals (that change depending on the wine at the tasting) to accompagny the wine served. I strongly recommend this place, you will astounded by the many wines that Japan has to offer (and by its quality!). (you can find it on facebook here)

And if beer is more your thing, stop by the Yamato Craft Beer and have a tasting of their local beers :

You know everything about my half-day in Nara. Let me know if you have any comments, suggestion or questions!

My hotel (near the station, which enabled me to do everything on foot) : Centurion