Nara · Naramachi
Naramachi
Most of Naramachi was once the grounds of Gango-ji temple. When the temple lost state support, its empty parts became streets, and the area grew into a merchant town in the Edo and Meiji periods. Narrow wooden townhouses, machiya, still stand there, and some of them have become cafes and shops. According to Gango-ji, the name 'Naramachi' for a tourist area took hold after 1998, when the temple was registered as a World Heritage Site and the streets around it were designated a buffer zone.
Gango-ji itself is the later form of Asuka-dera, founded at the end of the 6th century and moved to Nara in 710. Of the great temple only part of the monks' quarters remains, converted in the Kamakura period into two halls that are now National Treasures, and their roofs still use tiles from the Asuka and Nara periods.
Red cloth monkey dolls hang above the doors: migawari-zaru, a charm that takes on troubles in place of the people of the house. By tradition you hang one for each family member, and if you write a wish on its back, it comes true. At the Naramachi Lattice House, a reconstruction of a townhouse from the late Edo and Meiji periods, you can go inside and see what such a house looks like from within, for free.
Good to know
- At Gango-ji, from 24 October to 15 November 2026, there is the autumn exhibition: admission is ¥800, and temple seals (goshuin) are available only pre-written. From late October to early November the Chiko Mandala painting is also shown.
- Koshin-do, a small hall of the Koshin faith, whose messengers are monkeys, is closed inside. From outside you can see the monkey statues and the cloth dolls.
- At Gango-ji, if you come in or go out through the north iron gate, close it behind you by hand, as the temple asks, because deer get in.
What is nearby
Approximate walking minutes from the entrance of Naramachi.
- HereNaramachi
- ~2 min
Gango-ji Temple More to see
A World Heritage temple in the middle of Naramachi. Two halls that are National Treasures, with tiles from the Asuka period, and in the exhibition hall, included in the admission, a small wooden pagoda from the Nara period, also a National Treasure, and many stone statues.
- ~3 min
Kanakana Cafe
A cafe in a machiya house. No fixed lunch hours: you can order the house set meal, curry, desserts and drinks at any time.
- ~4 min
Goryo Shrine More to see
A Shinto shrine founded in 800, the neighborhood shrine of Naramachi. At the feet of the guardian dog statues at the south gate, people tie red threads in the hope that someone who has left will come back, for love and for business. Free.
- ~4 min
Harushika (Imanishi Seibee Shoten) Shopping
A sake brewery that has been making sake since 1884, and its shop in the Naramachi district sits in a building that was once part of the bre
- ~5 min
Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten Nara Main Store Shopping
The flagship store of Nakagawa Masashichi, a company from Nara that sells housewares and handicraft products from all over Japan.
- ~5 min
Hiraso Nara (Kakinoha-zushi) Food
A restaurant and shop for kakinoha-zushi, pickled mackerel or salmon sushi wrapped in a persimmon leaf, at the northern edge of Naramachi. The branch page lists a set with soup at ¥1,650 and a 'Mahoroba' lunch at ¥2,900, but the company raised prices on 1 September 2026.
- ~5 min
Mochiidono Center Street Street
A narrow covered shopping street, about 3 meters wide, linking Sanjo-dori with Naramachi. Old shops stand next to new ones, and in the middle is 'Yume Cube', a set of small shops run by young entrepreneurs since 2007.
Appears in: Nara: the deer, the Great Buddha and the lantern shrine