Before Christmas I went on a day trip to Nara, the ancient capital of Japan. I visited Nara in 2016 and spent most of my time looking at the various shrines and being chased around the parks by the overly aggressive deer. This time I decided to focus on the National Museum and the deer were rather better behaved but perhaps that because winter was on it’s way and the weather was a bit colder than last time.

The leaves on the trees had turned a nice shade of red.

The Museum houses an impressive array of Buddhist statues and is itself a rather nice building. Unfortunately you cannot take photo’s inside. There was also a sign saying that you cannot play Pokemon Go inside as well. Presumably over excited Pokemon Go’ers have been trying to collect the Buddhist deities on display. I’ve never understood Pokemon Go. I think it’s because collecting something designed to be collected seems a bit crass. Better to collect something obscure that wasn’t designed to be collected. Anyhow, to give you an idea of what is inside, I purchased this postcard.

After the Museum I went for a wander around Naramachi. This is an old district of Nara that still captures some of the ancient character of the old capital. Of note is the Naramachi Townhouse. This is a house “done up” in traditional style. Lots of tatami mats and sliding doors.

The kitchen has an old school range. I have, actually, seen a working one of these in a Shinto Shrine.

Traditional Japanese rooms tend to have an alcove with artwork hanging in it. The rest of the room is usually rather empty.

The house itself is rather long and thin. This is the passageway that runs alongside.

In the middle is a rather nice garden.

All in all a good trip and there’s plenty more for me to see when I go again.