Nara is the capital city of Nara prefecture, located in the central part of the main island.
Nara was established by Empress Genmei in 710 as a capital of Japan, then called Heijokyo. Heijokyo was Japan’s first international city because many artworks arrived from other countries such as China, Korea, and Persia. Shosoin (the Imperial Repository) stores many ancient imported goods. Different cultures mixed in Nara and it became the origin of Japanese spirit and culture.
Nara has many places to visit, especially the Great Buddha of Todaiji temple and the deer – the main symbol of Nara city. Todaiji temple is the largest wooden structure in the world, and its Great Buddha statue, with a height of 15 meters, is also the world’s largest bronze Buddha statue.
There are more than 1200 deer roaming around the Nara Park, and they have been protected by the local people as messengers of the Grand Shrine of Kasuga for over centuries.
In 1998, 8 sites in Nara were registered on the UNESCO World Heritage list: the temples of Todaiji, Kofukuji, Gangoji, Yakushiji, Toshodaiji, the Kasuga Grand Shrine, Heijo Palace Site, and Kasugayama Primeval Forest. This rare simultaneous inscription of cultural and natural heritage sites means that you can feel the history, the culture, the tradition and nature.
Nara, the Birthplace of . . .
Tea
Japanese tea in Nara is called Yamato-cha (Yamato tea), derived from the ancient name of Nara. Nara has the longest history of tea cultivation in Japan, beginning when the Buddhist priest Kukai (also known as Kobo Daishi) brought seeds of tea tree from China and planted them in Nara.
Yamato Tea garden
Seishu (refined Sake)
Sake (Japanese rice wine) has become famous worldwide, but very few know that the birthplace of Sake is Nara. In the old days, Sake used to be unrefined. In the 15th century, Buddhist monks of Shoryaku-ji Temple, located in Nara city, invented the production method of clear transparent Sake.
Pouring Sake into Bamboo cup
Why don’t you try Yamato tea and Seishu and enjoy the traditional and historical taste?
Relations with Australia
Thanks to the grass-roots exchange between Japanese and Australians, Nara city and Canberra established a formal sister city relationship in 1993. Since then both cities have deepened exchange activities.
The Canberra Nara Candle Festival is held annually either in September or in October in Canberra, inspired by a much larger candle festival called “Tokae” held in August in Nara. At the Tokae festival, about twenty thousand candles light up the ancient capital after dusk.
Gazing at the lights in Canberra Nara Park, you will feel like you are in Nara.
Canberra Nara Candle Festival in Canberra Nara Park
Tokae in Nara