The photograph on the left shows Hôryûji Temple. The photograph to the right of it shows the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) of Tôdaiji Temple. Next to it is Nara Park.
Nara is a town with an ancient history. From the 5th
to the 8th centuries, when the Yamato court unified Japan, the center
of the country was in Yamato (today's Nara). During that period, the capital
moved from place to place in this region, but the city of Heijôkyô
that was built in Nara in 710 was Japan's first large capital. The culture
of this time had been brought over from China. Nara has many surviving
temples and Buddhist images that convey the nature of the culture of that
period, as well as many ancient tomb mounds, which are the graves of high-ranking
people. Tôdaiji Temple was built by Emperor Shômu in the mid-8th
century in prayer for the growth of the nation, and the Daibutsuden (Great
Buddha Hall) contains a huge Buddha image that is 15 m tall. The Nara
Park in which this temple is located is a nature park with many deer,
which are considered to be messengers of the gods.