Before Kyoto was the Capitol, there was Nara, which was the Capitol from 710 to 784. The main reason for moving to Kyoto from Nara was to get away from the perceived over-influence of Buddhism on the Imperial court. Although the Capitol moved, Nara remained very influential culturally for many centuries. Today, Nara still contains a huge preserved area that holds the largest number of buildings designated as National Treasures in Japan, and many UNESCO recognized World Heritage sites.

I finally put up what survived from my Ireland 1996 pictures along with my comments that had been recorded in ink on various random stationery. I broke the camera late into this trip, so just to fill in the blanks, for my own sake, I slapped up some stolen photos of places I went but had no pictures for.