Welcome to 2025 and the Year of the Snake! The best way to start the new year in Nara is to stop by any of her historic shrines or temples. Join the boisterous crowds and delight in new year decorations like bamboo and pine kadomatsu, sacred shimekazari straw festoons, or kagamimochi rice cakes. The Higashimuki arcade, around Kintetsu-Nara Station, and the Mochiidono arcade in Naramachi old town will also be a bustle. There are a number of thrilling festivals happening in Nara Prefecture, but the end-month highlight is the burning of Mount Wakakusa. See the details below for Nara’s annual Yama-Yaki festival.
Hase-dera Mantoru New Year Illumination [12/31‒01/03]
Ward off evil spirits with kyudo arrows in Tenri [Sat, 04]
The amazing Chihara O-tondo Fire Festival [Wed, 14]
Prevent cancer with sake at Daian-ji Temple [Thur, 23]
Kashihara winter illumination [07/12 to 31\07]
Koriyama winter illumination [12/01 to 02/01]
1. Where to celebrate New Year in Nara?
Wherever you are in Nara, there will be festivities festooned with traditional decorations at almost all shrines and temples, big or small. If you want to avoid the crowds a little, hatsumode, or ‘the first visit of the new year’, generally extends through to January third.
Here are some of Nara’s more popular spots for ringing in the New Year:
Kasuga-taisha Grand Shrine
Todai-ji Temple or Nara Daibutsu
Omiwa-jinja Shrine in Sakurai
Hase-dera Temple New Year Light-up
Hozan-ji Temple on Mount Ikoma
Chogosonshi-ji Temple on Mount Shigi
Traditionally, most Japanese may first go to a shrine, especially a local one, but many people also choose to visit a favorite temple.
You may have to wait in line to enter Kasuga-taisha Shrine or Todai-ji Temple, but there will be many food stalls and other activities along the way. Also, don’t miss the midnight New Year illuminations on January 1st with 135 stone lanterns around Nigatsu-do and Kagami-ike Pond.
Omiwa Shrine in Sakura City is one of the oldest and most sacred shrines associated with mountain worship. Its impressive Torii Gate is the second tallest in Japan.
At Hase-dera Temple, you can enjoy an evening light-up. Mount Ikoma's Hozan-ji Temple and Mount Shigi’s Chogosonshi-ji Temple are fun mountain-top destinations. In both these places, local businesses, shops, and restaurants will be doing their best to draw in new year revelers.
How To Get There!
For Omiwa Shrine, take the Man'yo Mahoroba Line from JR Nara Station. Hozan-ji is a short cable ride from Kintetsu-Ikoma Station. For Mount Shigi, change at Ikoma to the Kintetsu-Ikoma Line, and catch the bus at Shigisan-shita Station. Alternatively, take a train from JR Nara, get off at Oji, and catch the same bus from Oji Station, via Shigisan-shita, to Mount Shigi.
2. Hase-dera Manto New Year’s Illumination in Nara!
Date: Tues Dec 31 to Fri Jan 3
Entry: No charge
Time: 17:00 to 05:00 (Tues/Wed); 17:00 to 20:00
Location: 731-1 Hase, Sakurai, 633-0112
Transport: Hasedera Station, Kintetsu-Osaka Line
If you’re looking for the magical and nostalgic feeling of a winter light-up, then head to Hase-dera Temple in Sakurai City. Known as the Kannon Manto, it celebrities their famous 10-meter-high Goddess of Mercy Buddha. The temple's spectacular winding staircase and precincts are decorated with hundreds of lanterns.
You can buy lanterns to make an offering: large 20,000 yen, medium 10,000 yen, or small 1,000 yen. You don’t have to buy a lantern, and entry to the feat of the Kannon statue is 1,000 yen. You can also receive a goshuin of Daikokuten (300 yen), which is a sacred signing on a special leaflet. Daikokuten is one of the Seven Gods of Fortune.
3. Asuka Village Strawberry Picking
Entry: 2,000 yen adults, 1,600 children
Date: Weekends, from around 01/11
Time: 10:00 to 16:00 (Last entry 15:4-)
Location: Asuka Village surroundings
Transport: Asuka Station, Kintetsu-Yoshino Line
Asuka Ruby Strawberries are a special type of plump and juicy strawberry grown at waist height in some eighteen or so greenhouses around Asuka. Each year, you can take part in strawberry picking around mid-month. You will need to check the strawberry picking calendar (Japanese) to make a reservation, and you can pick-and-eat for 30 minutes, or pay by weight for 300 yen / 100 g. There is a bicycle rental at Asuka Station.
4. Oyumi Hajime Kyudo Event in Tenri
Date: Sat, 01/14
Entry: No charge
Time: 13:00 to 15:00
Location: Oyamato Jinjya, 306 Niizumicho, Tenri, 632-0057
Transport: Nara Kotsu Bus from Sakurai Station or a 7-min-walk from Nagara Station on JR Manyo Mahoroba Line.
The practice of kyudo, or traditional Japanese archery, often forms part of religious ceremonies in both Shinto and Shugendo practices. At this ceremonial event, students from local schools and the Kyudo Federation will send their arrows flying to ward off evil spirits, marking the end of the new year celebrations. You can get some steaming hot sweet red bean soup (zenzai) from around 12:50 - limited to first takers. The archery shooting starts at 13:30. The Oyamato-jinjya Shrine, in Tenri City, is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan.
You can also experience Japanese Kyudo in Nara city. Our dedicated article covers all the details.
5. Chihara O-tondo Bonfire Festival in Katsuragi
Date: Tues, Jan 14
Entry: No charge
Time: 19:40
Location: 279 Chihara, Gose City
Transport: 5-min-walk from JR Tamade Station
After the new year has settled in, another great Japanese tradition are the annual tondo-yaki or bonfire festivals. At these bonfire festivals, new year decorations of the shrines and temples are set ablaze, and the smoke ascends to the heavenly gods as a prayer of benediction. Ordinary people also come and throw in talismans and home alter decorations from the previous year.
The biggest and most impressive of these tondo-yaki festivals is the Chihara O-tondo, or the great bonfire festival of Kisshoso-ji Temple in Gose City. Giant 6-meter tall torches weighing 700 kg each are set ablaze in a spectacular fashion. This festival celebrates the life of the aesthetic En no Gyoja.
6. Fight off Cancer with Sake at Daian-ji Temple
Date: Thur, Jan 23
Entry: Free admission (80 yen for sake and entry to the Inanai-do and Treasure Halls)
Time: 08:00 to 16:00
Location: 630-8133, Daianji 2-18-1
Transport: Nara Kotsu Bus from JR or Kintetsu-Nara Station
Daian-ji Temple near Nara City is one of Nara’s key historic temples. They have seasonal Sasazake festivals where ladies in kimonos pour out sake from bamboo poles. This festival honors the Emperor Konin (709-781) and how much he cared for citizens’ health. The sake is said to prevent cancer. You will receive a small bamboo cup, and you can probably drink as much as you need to.
7. Wakakusa Yamayaki Mountain Burning
Date: Sat, Jan25
Entry: No charge
Time: Fireworks: 18:15 | Yamayaki: 18:30
Location: Mount Wakakusa, Nara Park
Transport: 30-min-walk from Kintetsu-Nara Station
Yamayaki is one of Nara’s most popular festivals, so don’t miss Mount Wakakusa getting its top burnt off! The origins of this festival may date to settling a dispute between monks of Todai-ji and Kohfuku-ji. Other origins point to warding off the spirits of ghosts or chasing away wild boar. The firing torch is carried from Kasuga-taisha Shrine by monks from Kohfuku-ji Temple. After the burning of the mountain, there will be a fireworks display. The event may be postponed in case of rain or bad weather.
8. Kashihara Nara Winter Illumination
Date: Dec 7 to Jan 31
Entry: No charge
Time:
Dec 7 to 30: 17:00 - 24:00
Dec 31 to Jan 1: 17:00 - 7:00
Jan 1 to 31: 17:30 - 24:00
Location: Kintetsu Yamato-Yagi Station
Transport: Kintetsu Kashihara Line from Yamato-Saidaiji
For a winter light up that isn’t about lanterns and candles, Kashihara City is the place to be. The illuminations are around Yamato-Yagi Station. The Kashihara-jingu Shrine is also very popular over New Year and you can view their large painting of the zodiac animal, which for 2025 is the snake. Yamato-Yagi is also a major interchange station when going to places like Hase-dera Temple, Asuka area, or Yoshino. The illumination is a nice stop off on your way back to Nara City.
9. Koriyama Castle Winter Illumination
Date: Dec 1 to Feb 2
Entry: No charge
Time: Sunset to 21:30
Location: DMG Mori Yamaoto Koriyamajo Hall
Transport: Kashihara Line from Yamato-Saidaiji or Yamatoji Line from JR Nara Station.
Another fun winter illumination is happening in the grounds of Koriyama Castle. This event actually starts from the beginning of December and lasts until February 2nd. In total, there are some 52,000 LED bulbs creating various displays designed by the Kansai Culture and Arts High School.
10. What’s on in Nara! Music and The Arts, January 2025
Every month in Nara there are various classical, jazz, and other art events well-worth attending. Here are the key events for January 2025:
01/11: Shushu Kyomasu Recital. A young, up-and-coming pianist plays Mozart, Debussy, and Ravel, Yamatotakada Sazanka Hall, 15:00, 3 000 yen.
01/12: Naramachi New Year Concert. Naramachi Center, Ghibli classics & Hungarian dances, 13:30 for 14:00, 2 500 yen.
01/18: Latin Trio Charity Performance. Takemaru Hall, Ikoma City,13:30 to 16:00, 1 000 yen reservation, 1,500 yen door price.
01/19: Nara Philharmonic Orchestra. DMG Mori Yamato Koriyamajo Hall, Anderson, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, 13:30 for 14:00, 2 000 yen.
12/07~01/25: Nara in the 1960’s. Irie Taikichi Memorial Museum of Photography (near Shinyakushi-ji Temple), 500 yen.
12/07~02/09: Special Exhibition Botanical Paintings by internationally famed Yamanaka Masumi. Heijo Palace Izanai Hall, free entry.
Nara Blue Note has regular jazz, blues, and jam sessions every weekend and also on Monday holidays, 1,800 to 2,800 yen.
Thank you for reading Things to Do in Nara - January.
Things To Do In Nara
Author: NARA Visitor Center & Inn
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