Nara (city)
Japan · Asia
About Nara (city)
Nara is the capital city of Nara Prefecture, Japan. As of 2022, Nara has an estimated population of 367,353 according to World Population Review, making it the largest city in Nara Prefecture and sixth-largest in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara is a core city located in the northern part of Nara Prefecture bordering the Kyoto Prefecture.
Nara was the capital of Japan during the Nara period from 710 to 784 as the seat of the Emperor before the capital was moved to Nagaoka-kyō, except for the years 740 to 745, when the capital was placed in Kuni-kyō, Naniwa-kyō and Shigaraki Palace. Nara is home to eight major historic temples, shrines, and heritage sites, specifically Tōdai-ji, Saidai-ji, Kōfuku-ji, Kasuga Shrine, Gangō-ji, Yakushi-ji, Tōshōdai-ji, and the Heijō Palace, together with Kasugayama Primeval Forest, collectively form the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
By the Heian period, a variety of different characters had been used to represent the name Nara: 乃楽, 乃羅, 平, 平城, 名良, 奈良, 奈羅, 常, 那良, 那楽, 那羅, 楢, 諾良, 諾楽, 寧, 寧楽 and 儺羅.
A number of theories for the origin of the name...
Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.