THE ISLANDS OF JAPAN
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Japan's first permanent capital was located at Heijo on the outskirts of the modern city of Nara. Smithsonian JAPAN JOURNEY seminar tours used to visit Nara, its incomparable museum collections and historic temples on a regular basis; however, in time the commute from Kyoto became overwhelming and we substituted visits to the Mito Museum near Shigaraki. I haven't been to either of the two temples we saw on this trip for several years as a result. Nor have I approached them from Osaka and Kobe as we did after leaving the Clipper Odyssey on this particular trip.
The Horyuji has a new museum which better displays many of its treasures (although still within deep glassed-in display cabinets that obscure many of the object's details). The Todaiji, too, has undertaken some restoration of its image collection. Otherwise "the oldest wooden structures in the world" and "the largest wooden structure in the world" look much the same as they have since their construction in the seventh century.
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| NARA HOMEPAGE | THE ISLANDS OF JAPAN HOMEPAGE | MAKELA FAMILY HOMEPAGE |
site designed and maintained by Lee A. Makela (l.makela@csuohio.edu); contact him with any comments.