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Nara, Himeji & Osaka

Kansai Area

Tony Clemens
2005-08-31 22:15:56

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Although there is much to see in Kyoto, Japan's excellent rail system makes it easy to see other areas in the Kansai area. In fact with a Japanese rail pass Tokyo itself is only about 2.5 hours away on the shinkansen or bullet train.

Nara

Nara was Japan's first permanent capital. Although it was only the capital for 75 years from 710 to 785 before the capital moved to Kyoto these were the formative years which created much of the Japanese culture. With eight World Heritage Culture sites, it is second only to Kyoto as a repository of Japan's cultural legacy. Also like Kyoto it was one of the few cities not bombed during WWII.

Nara is only a small city of about 350,000 people and most of its important sites can easily be reached on foot from the train station. Nara is only about 35 to 45 minute train ride from Kyoto depending on which train you catch. The people at the tourist office at the train station were very friendly, they even gave us posters. Pick up a walking map of the city.

Many of the sites in Nara are located in a large parkland called Nara-kÅ�en located at the foot of Wakakusa-yama. The park is also home to about 1200 deer which were considered to be messengers of the gods and today have the status of national treasures. Many stores in the area sell biscuits to feed the deer.

TÅ�dai-ji with the huge Daibutsu-den hall, the largest wooden building in the world, and the bronze Buddha statue inside are the star attraction in Nara. The place will probably be packed with groups of school children been herded around by microphone wielding guides. On your way to the temple you will pass through the Nandai-mon gate which contains two carvings of NiÅ� warriors, from the 13th century they are probably the largest wooden statues in the world.

The present Daibutsu-den hall, Hall of the Great Buddha, ...