Nara, Nara

Nara (Japanese奈良 市, -shi) is a city and administrative center of the homonymous Nara Prefecture in the south of the main Japanese island of Honshu.

In Nara, there are several universities. Economically important are the textile and food industries.

History

Nara was in the Nara period 710-784 under the name Heijo - kyō, the capital of Japan. From this time most of the major temples come. Although the city but the Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines lost after the transfer of the capital to Kyoto in importance, built their power gradually and survived until today.

1180 in an attack the Taira, much of the city was destroyed. Todai -ji and Kōfuku -ji were reconstructed and expanded the city.

Nara was officially established in its present form of government on 1 February 1898.

Attractions

Because of its many old and well-preserved Temple Nara is one of the most important tourist destinations in Japan. Several temples, shrines and ruins in and around Nara are part of the UNESCO World Heritage List, including Todai -ji, Kōfuku -ji, Kasuga Shrine, gango -ji, Yakushi -ji, Toshodai -ji and the remains of Heijo Palace.

It is also known the Nara Park with its Sika deer.

From 1961 to 2006 Nara was the site of the amusement park Nara Dreamland, the design of which was very similar to Disneyland in California.

Culture

Important Festivals

Traffic

• Road National road 24, 25, 169, 308, 369

• JR Kansai Main Line
• JR Sakurai Line
• Kintetsu Nara Line
• Kintetsu Kyoto Line
• Kintetsu Kashihara Line
• Kintetsu Keihanna - line

Twinning

• Flag of South Korea Gyeongju, South Korea - since 1970
• Spain Toledo, Spain - since 1972
• People's Republic of China Xi'an, People's Republic of China - since 1974
• France Versailles, France - since 1986
• Australia Canberra, Australia - since 1993

Sons and daughters of the town

• Ken'ichi Fukui (1918-1998), Chemist
• Masaya Katō (* 1963), actor
• Naomi Kawase (born 1969 ), film director
• Hisako Mizui (* 1972), badminton player
• Yasuko Mizui (* 1975), badminton player
• Ryota Murata ( born 1986 ), Olympic gold medalist in boxing
• Sumii Sue (1902-1997), writer
• Ikko Tanaka (1930-2002), graphic
• Tsuyoshi Domoto ( born 1979 ), musician

Adjacent Cities and Towns

• Nara Prefecture Yamatokoriyama
• Tenri
• Ikoma
• Sakurai
• Uda
• Yamazoe

• Kizugawa
• Kasagi
• Seika
• Minami- Yamashiro

• Iga