Nara Park Photowalk

Nara Park is the general name given to the temples and parkland on the slope of Mt. Wakakusa east of the two Nara stations. The park includes many UNESCO World Heritage sites including Kofuku-ji and Todai-ji, the world's largest wooden building. It's also inhabited by many somewhat tame deer.

I went on a photo walk with two of my coworkers last month. This summer we'll be hosting a group of exchange students from New Zealand and we'll be taking them to the park on a day trip.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the walk.

This is one of the ponds throughout the park. It's probably the most seen an photographed because of its prominent location. The pagoda in the background is part of Kofuku-ji.

Deer hanging out in front of a biscuit stand like teenagers in front of a Circle K trying to get an adult to buy them some beer.

The wall around Todai-ji.

Nara park is very popular with school trips. On our walk we saw students from Aomori all the way in the north of Japan. There were also student tour groups from Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia in the park.

Alcohol, in this case sake, is a popular offering to deities or relatives. Cans, empty and full, are often scattered around temples and shrines often near statues.

The temple shop in Nigetsudo.

A lone man comes to pray at the temple. On cold winter days one can find some solitude in these temples, but when the summer comes around they will be much more crowded.

The rest of the photos I took on that day can be found in my Nara Park Photowalk set on flickr.