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hey everyone welcome to world heritage
journey today we're at the historic
monuments of ancient Nara in Japan
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Nara is a beautiful and historic city in
central Japan for most of the eighth
century Nara was the capital of ancient
Japan this World Heritage Site
celebrates and honors the legacy of that
brief but shining period in the city's
history
we started our visit at todaiji one of
the most important temples in the city
known as the eastern Great Temple this
large building houses an ancient and
colossal statue of Buddha this statue is
the world's largest bronze Buddha
standing 15 meters tall and weighing in
at an enormous 500 tons it dates back to
the eighth century though the current
temple around it is much newer completed
in 1709 despite being the world's
largest wooden building for almost 300
years the current temple is actually
smaller than the one that have replaced
outside of the main temple there's also
some beautiful gardens an impressive
gateway and a nice belfry as well
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next up was our second stop kasuga grand
shrine this large Shinto shrine dates
back to the eighth century Nara period
and it's famous for the enormous numbers
of lanterns nearby over 3,000 stone
lanterns mark the way to the temple and
inside the compound there's several
thousand more bronze lanterns too it
makes for a really pretty and inviting
atmosphere though the lanterns
themselves are generally only lit on
special religious occasions but it's
still absolutely beautiful
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the shrine is located in Nora's famous
Deer Park where hundreds of wild deer
roam freely the deer are believed to be
sacred messengers of the Shinto gods
inhabiting the shrine and the nearby
mountains and so they're treated with
genuine reverence and they're also of
course a great tourist attraction
our final stop was at cuckoo G another
Buddhist temple dating back to the 8th
century during the Nara period it was
one of the most important Imperial
temples which makes it quite interesting
our favorite feature here was the large
central golden hall though the east
golden hall and the five storied pagoda
were also quite impressive all up we had
a great time in Nara although we only
saw three of the eight temples shrines
and sacred spots included with the
listing it definitely feels like we
picked the most impressive
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[Applause]
you