Regions & prefectures
JapanRegions & prefectures
Nara
Japan’s first permanent capital, its free-roaming deer and the world’s largest bronze Buddha.
- Capital
- Nara
- Status
- Prefecture
- Region
- Kansai
- Must-see
- The Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji
- Local specialty
- Kakinoha-zushi, pounded mochi, Yamato tea
Before Nara, the capital moved with each reign to escape the pollution of death. Heijō-kyō, founded in 710, broke with that and lasted seventy-four years, long enough to fix an administration, a writing system and a state Buddhism. Nearby Hōryū-ji preserves the world’s oldest wooden buildings, raised around 700. The mountainous prefecture also holds the cherry trees of Mount Yoshino, thirty thousand of them in terraces.
What to see there
Places, dishes and traditions tied to this territory.
In the magazine
Articles that cover this topic.