A Day Trip to the Historic City of Nara

The historic city of Nara in Japan is a popular day-trip destination from both Osaka and Kyoto, as it is easily accessible from both.

Why should you visit Nara?

Nara is a Japanese city that escaped the destruction of WWII, allowing it to preserve its ancient temples and the history surrounding them.

When you visit Nara now, you will see a city steeped in culture and traditions.

As you step into the famous Nara Park, a highly rated tourist attraction, you will see hundreds of wild deer, estimated at 1200, roaming freely and bowing respectfully to visitors for food.

These wild deer are considered to be messengers of the Kami, the revered deity in Shintoism, symbolising the deep harmony between nature and humans. These deer have inhabited the Nara Park for over 1300 years!!

• A day trip to Nara will give you access to 8 stunning UNESCO World Heritage Sites, since all these 8 locations fall under the aegis of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.

  
  

• One of the most popular of these 8 monuments is the Todai-ji Temple, home to Daibutsu, or Great Buddha, one of the largest bronze statues in the world.

  
  

• Apart from Todai-ji Temple, Nara has the beautiful Kasuga Taisha Shrine, known for its thousands of bronze and stone lanterns, and Horyu-ji Temple, home to the world's oldest surviving wooden structure.

• Nara is also famous for the mochi pounding show at Nakataniduo. Tourists flock to see the show, which is free to watch, as two people pound rice dough with a mallet to make soft mochis (rice cakes), then sell them to onlookers.

I believe these intriguing facts should be reason enough to visit the beautiful city of Nara.

Our day trip to Nara...some BASIC TIPS to help you plan your journey...

• Nara is about 46 km from Kyoto and 32 km from Osaka. From wherever you start, the best way to reach Nara is by train. If you have the JR Pass, then take the JR Line, or you can also take the Kintetsu Line. Kintetsu Station is closer to Nara Park, so if you don't have the JR Pass, opt for this line. We had the JR Pass, so we opted for the JR Line.

• Once you reach Nara, take a bus or a taxi to Nara Park because there is a lot of walking around within the city. Don't tire yourself out in the morning itself. This bus ride into the city will be paid.

• The day we reached Nara, it was raining. We decided to see the most important sight before the weather worsened, so we set out for the Todai-ji Temple. I'll talk about this temple in detail later in this blog.

  
  

• After spending close to 3 hours at this beautiful temple, we headed to the Kasuga Taisha Shrine, which is about half a kilometre from Todai-ji. You walk through a very calm and scenic path through lush green landscape dotted with small shrines and temples along the way, and not to forget, deer.

  My Tip: Take time to stroll along this scenic path and watch the playful deer herds.

  
  

• The path to the inside of the Kasuga Taisha Shrine is beautiful, with broad steps leading to the main temple and large stone lanterns covered in moss that the temple is famous for. I'll discuss this temple later in the blog.

  If you wish to take a bus back to the train station, there is a bus stop very close to the shrine, maybe a 4 to 5-minute walk away.

• Apart from visiting these two shrines, we had plans to hike up to Mount Wakakusa to get panoramic views of the city. We had to call off this hike because of the rain. But we'd heard great reviews about this scenic spot, so go for it if you can!

• Nara is also known for Kofukoji Temple and its famous 5-Storey Pagoda. The temple is home to many national treasures of Japan. We skipped this temple because the Pagoda is under repair until 2031.

• There is a nice marketplace called the Naramachi District where you could spend some time exploring traditional cafes and shops. That's exactly what we did before heading back.

Visiting the famous Todai-ji Temple

Visiting the Todai-ji Temple in Nara is a feast for the eyes and balm for the soul!

You will see hundreds of tourists jostling with each other, navigating their way through the street lined with shops and eateries and walking around herds of deer to reach the main gate of Todai-ji Temple, called Nandaimon (see photo below).

This huge gate is guarded by two guardian statues, called Nio, on both sides.

You will be led through a wide path to reach the main temple complex, which houses the Great Buddha. All along this path, you will encounter hundreds of deer chasing, gently nudging or bowing in front of you for food. You will see many tourists buying rice crackers from roadside shops to feed the deer.

Keep walking to reach the great wooden hall, called Daibutsuden, the largest wooden hall in the world!

As you step inside, you will be greeted by the awe-inspiring 15-metre-tall bronze statue of Buddha in a sitting position. This is the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world. The statue is placed on lotus petals symbolising the enlightenment of Buddha and his awakening from the material world to the spiritual realm.

There are many other statues around the hall that you can walk around and explore. As you step out of the hall, you will see a life-size statue of Binzuru, one of the disciples of Buddha who had mastered the art of occult sciences. As per popular belief, touching the part of Benzuru that hurts in your body brings healing and relief. So, you will see many visitors touching the statue to invoke blessings.

You can see that the area around the knees looks heavily rubbed..

My Tip

Plan to spend at least 2 hours at Todai-ji to fully appreciate the craftsmanship of this beautiful statue and its surrounding statues.

Entry to the outer temple grounds is free, but you need to buy a ticket to enter the premises of the main temple. The ticket price is 800 yen per person, and only cash is accepted at the counter.

Entrance Gate to the Todai-ji Temple, called Nandaimon, built in 1203, is a National Treasure known for its massive wooden columns

Two mammoth guardian statues, called Nio, flank the entrance gate of Todai-ji Temple on both sides

Daibutsuden, the wooden hall that houses the Giant Buddha in Todai-ji Temple and the largest wooden building in the world!

15-metre-tall Bronze statue of Buddha inside Daibutsuden

Visiting the Kasuga Taisha Shrine

If you're doing a day trip to Nara and you have to pick only two shrines, then Todai-ji Temple and Kasuga Taisha Shrine are the top choices. Todai-ji for the epic Buddha statue and Kasuga Taisha for the 3000 lanterns that adorn the pathway and the inner ramparts of the temple.

As I've mentioned earlier, the path leading to the Kasuga shrine goes through a beautiful jungle trail where you can see some more shrines and temples and herds of deer all around.

As you reach closer to the shrine, you start seeing the lanterns that the shrine is famous for! Hundreds of stone lanterns line both sides of the moderately uphill path with broad steps to make the climb effortless.

Entry into the temple complex is free. You can stroll around the central courtyard and see the famous rows of lanterns in the temple.

The beautiful Kasugayama Primaeval Forest surrounds the temple complex. You will see a thick cover of cedar and cypress trees, with more stone lanterns erected along the forest path, making this entire belt look ethereal.

Entry to the Kasuga Taisha Shrine

Stone Lanterns everywhere!!

Metal lanterns inside the temple complex

Thick woods at the rear of the temple and more stone lanterns...

My Tip

Entry into the main temple complex costs 500 yen, and you will need about 2 hours to see the inner corridors filled with over 3000 lanterns.

We decided to skip going inside the temple because we had limited time, and we wanted to utilise it to see the beautiful, thick forest around the temple grounds, which makes for a very scenic walk.

To sum up, Nara is a great place for a day trip. Beautiful shrines, scenic trails, and thousands of wild deer walking around the city can make it a very rewarding experience.