Nara

Nara City, located in Nara Prefecture bordering Kyoto, was an ancient capital city of Japan from 710-784 AD. These days, like Kyoto, it's noted for it's well preserved historic temple architecture and scenic views. But it's a small city, so while Kyoto gets all the tourist traffic, Nara enjoys a gentler, sleepier vibe. Something about Nara really inspired me. We only spent one day here, but you wouldn't know it from all those photographs I took! And post-trip, I sketched a little map to go with this post.

----- RESOURCES -----
Bento.com is an indispensable guide for locating good eats in Japan. The section for Nara is slim, but worth a look.
Wikitravel.com has a concise but very useful guide to eating, sightseeing and sleeping in Nara.
Infomapjapan.com provides a free map of Nara with the temples and hotels clearly marked.
Lonelyplanet.com has a paid download of their Japan guide's Kansai chapter on it's Pick & Mix website.
Naraexplorer.jp highlights eventsand festivals in their free seasonal newsletters and also has an online dining guide.

----- WE GOT AROUND -----
On foot
Nara is a small city, so you can easily see everything in the downtown area and in Nara Park in one day, on foot. A rented bicycle (check with your hotel) would also be a good alternative if you are spending longer than a day and want to reach parts of town that are further south or west of the Kintetsu Nara Station.

----- WE STAYED -----
Hotel Sunroute Nara
Boxy but clean, comfortable and neat, our twin room at the Sunroute Nara provided a nice view of the 5-story pagoda and was a 3 minute walk to Nara Park. Our (low-season) rate was 11,550 Yen, about US $119.

If you are looking for luxury accommodations, check out the beautifully appointed Nara Hotel overlooking Nara Park. Built in 1909, it's architecture charmingly blends Western deluxe-class and Japanese royal architectural styles but a stay here will set you back anywhere from US $300 to $3000 per night.

----- WE SAW -----

Deer
Nara Park is home to some 1200 free-roaming tame deer. According to legend, shortly after the capital city was built in Nara, the Shinto god Takemikazuchi arrived in town astride a white deer to guard it. As a result, for as long as people here can remember, deer have been regarded as divine animals. The deer are gentle and sweet creatures, and have even been trained to bow, but once you have procured one of the many deer biscuits for sale throughout the Park, watch out! It's really impossible to hand out the biscuits one by one, or even to choose which deer to give the treats to; the strongest and most insistent deer always seem to win.

Nara Park is a popular spot for local tourists to bring their children. A (perversely) fun thing to do is watch the little kids freak out at their first experience of the large biscuit-crazed mammals:
Toddler: Ohhh, hello Mr. Deer. You're pretty big. Can I pet you?
Deer: Well hey, little guy what's u--- oh! I see you have a biscuit! Lemme--!
Toddler: Wait! No, not my hand!
Deer: Gimme the biscuit, kid. Now. Release. The. Biscuit.
Toddler: Waah! Deer lips are slimy!
Deer: Mmmf. Nom nom nom.
Toddler: Mommmy!!! I've been slimed by a deer!
Mom: Ha ha ha! Hubby, are you recording this? Where's the video camera?

No, but seriously, the deer are very sweet, peaceful creatures.... Just don't deny them their biscuits.

Kofuku-ji and the 5-Story Pagoda
Kofukuji is pretty hard to miss, since it's located right at the western entrance to Nara Park, and you can spot its 5-story Pagoda from afar. At night the pagoda is lit up and, reflected in Sarusawa Pond, makes for picturesque photo-ops. Right in front of the pagoda seems to be where some of the larger deer hang out, waiting to pounce on tourists who purchase the deer biscuits here. I'd advise giving up those biscuits quickly -- these bucks don't fool around. Or save your biscuit money for the calmer deer in more remote parts of the Park.

Todai-ji and the Daibutsu
Todaiji (東大寺,, literally "Eastern Great Temple") was an important administrative center for Buddhism during the period that Nara was capital. It's main hall, the Daibutsu-den, is the largest wooden building in the world. Inside it is the Daibutsu, Japan's largest Buddha statue. Together with several other temples and sites throughout Nara City, the Todai-ji temple complex is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the wide, paved road leading up to Todaiji, before you reach the first big gate, is another popular spot for biscuit-addled deer to hang out.

Nigatsu-do
Nigatsudo (二月堂, literally "The Hall of the Second Month") is a two-story hall situated east of Todaiji. Its location on the Mt. Wakakusa hillside gives it a terrific perspective of the city, particularly amazing at sunset. Perhaps it was the way the twilight glinted on the bronze lanterns, perhaps something about its particular proportions and subtle decoration, but I couldn't help gazing at this place and thinking, "This is the most beautiful wooden building I have ever seen in my life." It really is worth the short hike just to take in the view from this stunning piece of architecture.

From the tourist brochure, I discovered that Nigatsudo has been the site of a 2-week long purification ritual every March for the past 1200 years. It's called Omizutori, and involves the temple assistants waving huge, 80 kilogram, lit torches from the 2nd floor balcony to shower spectators with*"cleansing" sparks. Wow. I would love to witness that, but, on the other hand, I do hope they have lots of extinguishers and a fire station located nearby....

Kasuga Taisha
Founded in 768, the Kasuga Taisha (春日大社, Kasuga Grand Shrine) is a Shinto shrine located a good 15-20 minute stroll southeast of the Todaiji. The walk is very pleasant, as the path is lined on both sides by thousands of moss-covered stone lanterns. The shrine has thatched roofs, thousands of bronze lanterns and vermillion-hued pillars that contrast brightly against the deep green of the surrounding forest. It's a very beautiful sight in midday, so I can only imagine how gorgeous it must look when all the lanterns are lit! According to my guidebook this happens only several nights out of the entire year during the festivals of Setsubun Mantoro (February 2-4), Obon Mantoro (August 14-15) and Kasuga Matsuri, the Monkey Festival (March 13).

Higashimuki and Mochiidono Shopping Arcades
When you're done seeing the temples and the deer in Nara Park, stroll down these two covered shopping arcades and explore their side streets to look for souvenirs or snacks. Jaded by my previous experiences of touristy shopping streets, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Nara doesn't do cheesy tchotchkes. Well, sure, there are a lot of deer-themed souvenirs, but they do make unique and cute gifts for the folks back home. And there are some really beautiful traditional arts and handmade crafts to be found as well. We only spent one day in Nara, so regrettably we couldn't try the many hole-in-the-wall eating establishments that looked so enticing here.

Naramachi
Naramachi is an old neighborhood, founded in the 8th Century, that still contains numerous machiya, or traditional Japanese merchant houses in the Edo Period style. We planned to take the noon train back to Kyoto, so we spent early Sunday morning wandering through the narrow sidestreets and alleyways. Though I wished we could have explored the area when the antiques shops, cafes and handicraft shops were open, seeing this historic town in the quiet and soft Sunday morning light was like traveling back in time. There were many beautiful shrines and temples scattered throughout the area, and strings of stuffed red-satin dolls, good luck charms called "migawari-zaru," dangled from the merchant houses' eaves. If you're interested in learning more detailed history, it might be worth it to take an English-guided tour. Me, I'm more of a loner who prefers my quiet walks unmarred by tour-guide chatter, so I might prefer this self-guided one, courtesy of Nara's tourism website.

----- WE ATE -----

1. Kaki no hasushi (柿の葉ずし), 2. Sampler, 3. Roast rib cartilage, 4. Fried chicken skin with citrus vinegar

Kakinoha sushi
This type of sushi is local to Nara and involves cured mackerel or salmon and vinegared rice wrapped in salted persimmon leaves. They are usually shaped with a wooden box mold. When we arrived at Kintetsu Nara Station it lunchtime and we were famished! So we picked up some kakinoha sushi box lunches in the station, dropped our luggage off at the hotel, and enjoyed a picnic seated on the benches at Sarusawa Pond.
Nakatani Honpo (中谷本舗), inside the Kintetsu Station concourse.

Yamato chicken
These chickens have been specially bred in Nara for taste and texture. At Yatagarasu, the specialty is Yamato Nikudori, free-range chickens raised at subcontracted farmhouses in the Yagyu countryside, personally selected by the head chef in the morning and slaughtered at 130-140 days old. Nearly all parts of the chicken -- from breasts and thighs to cartilege, gizzards and skin -- are served grilled, fried, even raw. Yes, raw! I overcame my apprehension after the first bite. The flavor is very mild and it has the tender and smooth texture of a premium slice of yellowtail sashimi, without any fattiness or fishiness. Perfect with a little bit of coarsly ground wasabi and soy sauce...
Yatagarasu (やたがらす), 13-1 Hayashi-kōji-cho, 0742-20-0808.

Many guidebooks consider Nara worthy of a day-trip from Kyoto. But shortly after arriving, as we sat on a park bench munching on our sushi box lunch while gazing at sunbathing turtles, I started to think, "Well, maybe we should scheduled our whole 3-day weekend hdre..." Nara has a way of slowing you down and putting a relaxed smile on your face. So if you have some time to spare and you're visiting Nara in the off-season, give her 2 days or even 3, so you can stroll a little slower, eat more locally grown and freshly harvested meals, enjoy some quiet moments of contemplation at the temples and, of course, make friends with the deer!