Nara, worth knowing.

Fun facts about Nara

1. 1More than 1,000 wild deer roam the streets and lawns of Nara, and they are protected as a national natural monument of Japan.Source: Nara City Tourism Association; Nara Deer Preservation Foundation
2. 2Nara's deer are genetically one of a kind. DNA research found they split from other deer about 1,400 years ago and have kept their own unique lineage ever since.Source: Nara City Tourism Association; Wikipedia
3. 3Every January, Nara sets a whole mountainside on fire. At Wakakusa Yamayaki, fireworks go up, then the dry grass of Mount Wakakusa burns, glowing over the city.Source: japan-guide.com; Nara City Tourism Association
4. 4Todaiji's Great Buddha Hall is enormous, yet it's the downsized version. Funds ran short when it was rebuilt, so it shrank from eleven bays wide to seven.Source: Todaiji Temple; Wikipedia
5. 5Inside Todaiji, one wooden pillar has a hole at its base that's the same size as the Great Buddha's nostril.Source: japan-guide.com; Wikipedia
6. 6Nara has its own sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves. Kaki-no-ha-zushi pairs salted mackerel or salmon with vinegared rice, and the leaf adds a gentle aroma.Source: Nara City Tourism Association; Wikipedia

Things to do in Nara

• ◦Kasuga Taisha holds about 3,000 donated stone and bronze lanterns, and they're all lit together only twice a year, at lantern festivals in February and August.Source: Kasuga Taisha; japan-guide.com
• ◦Nara Park sprawls across about 660 hectares, wrapping around Todaiji, Kasuga Taisha and the national museum, with deer wandering the whole way.Source: Nara City Tourism Association; Wikipedia
• ◦Wander Naramachi, Nara's old merchant quarter of long, narrow wooden townhouses, then step inside the Koshi-no-Ie lattice house to see shop in front, home behind.Source: Nara City Tourism Association; japan-guide.com
• ◦Buy a pack of deer crackers in Nara Park and hold one up: some deer will bow their heads to you before they eat.Source: Nara Deer Preservation Foundation; japan-guide.com
• ◦Catch a Shika-yose in Nara: someone plays a natural horn in a meadow, and deer come trotting out of the woods to gather around.Source: Nara Deer Preservation Foundation; Nara City Tourism Association
• ◦Climb Mount Wakakusa for a sunset over Nara. From the 342-metre summit you can see Todaiji, Nara Park and the whole city spread out below.Source: Nara City Tourism Association; japan-guide.com

Questions to bring to Nara

From Sojourn's journeys. Ask one over a long dinner or on a slow walk, and let the place do some of the work.

Going together

• When do you feel most like yourself?
• What does rest actually look like for you?
• What is one thing you wish we did more of?

Going solo

• What is the first thing this place is showing you that you didn't expect?
• What does this version of you know that the home version tends to forget?

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