Asuka, Nara prefecture

Nara was the ancient capital of japan a long long time ago, and is known for its rich history. the Asuka region south of Nara City (about 45min from Osaka’s Kintetsu Abenobashi station in Tennoji) is famous for burial tombs, castle and tomb ruins and odd-shaped stones.

that place is really pretty – it’s away from the city and is a small rural village that has lots of tourists visiting. just look at the slopes of the land and the golden fields:

this is one of the burial mounds that i wanted to go into, but it was closed off:

i love the look of hay

it was lovely to be there, breathing in fresh air. we rented bicycles to get around too, which was good!

here’s one of the oddly shaped stones, called Kameishi or tortoise stone:

this is another one, which is the devil’s cutting board:

i think the most famous one burial tomb is Ishibutai, or stone stage.

the stones above it are really big

this explains how they pulled the stones over the tomb

 

descending beneath the rocks – there wasnt anything beneath the huge rocks besides a chamber, but it allowed us to see just how large the rocks are:

we had to return our rental bicycles, hence had to head home fairly early