1 Fuji-san (Mount Fuji)
2 Hagi
3 Hiroshima
4 Iriomote-jima
5 Kamakura
6 Kanazawa
7 Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto
8 Miyajima
9 Todaiji Temple, Nara
10 Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo
The main attraction of the historic town of Nara is this temple, which houses a giant bronze Buddha in the largest wooden building in the world.
The sheer magnitude of the gargantuan bronze Buddha (weighing in at 437 tons and over 16m high) is alone worth the visit to Nara. The statue is a masterpiece that took five years to cast, and crippled the economy in the process of its creation.
The main hall is called the Daibutsuden (Hall of the Great Buddha); as you approach it you will pass a pair of 13th-century carved wooden guardians by the Nandaimon gate, considered to be among the finest in Japan. The current incarnation of the hall is of comparatively recent construction, built in 1709, and is two-thirds the size of preceding halls; but the Buddha within was first made in AD 746 to the orders of Emperor Shomu, as a symbol of his power and perhaps as a charm against a smallpox epidemic that was raging at the time. Earthquakes and other disasters have naturally taken their toll over the centuries, and the current version of the statue dates from the Edo period. Just north of the Daibutsuden hall is the Shosoin (Treasure Repository); this wooden building used to hold the imperial treasures, but these are now exhibited twice a year in the Nara National Museum. The Kasuga Taisha Shrine, set in the deer-filled grounds, is adorned with scores of lanterns, which are a feature of the twice-yearly lantern festivals held here.Address: Nara-koen Park, Nara
Hours: Nov-Feb 8-4:30; Mar 8-5; Apr-Sep 7:30-5:30; Oct 7:30-5
Bus: 1, 2
Admission: Cheap
Info: Nara City Tourist Centre, near station PHONE: (0742) 22 3900
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