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Japan's first capital, its founding chronicles and the Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji.

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Nara Period · 710–794 AD
奈良 · The First Capital

The Nara Period

From the founding of Japan's first great capital on the Chinese model, through the writing of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki that fixed the myths of the imperial house, to the casting of the colossal Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji and the poetry of the Man'yōshū. Slide across a brilliant, turbulent century in which a Buddhist, bureaucratic Japan flowered — and the power of monks and nobles nearly overturned the throne.

710 AD
The New Capital
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710 AD

The New Capital
  • Political

    The founding of Heijō-kyō

    Plan of the Nara capital, Heijō-kyō
    Via Wikimedia Commons

    The court builds a permanent capital at Heijō-kyō, modern Nara, laid out on a grand grid modelled on Tang Chang'an.

7 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 710 AD

Full Chronicle

The Nara Period

From the founding of Japan's first great capital on the Chinese model, through the writing of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki that fixed the myths of the imperial house, to the casting of the colossal Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji and the poetry of the Man'yōshū. Slide across a brilliant, turbulent century in which a Buddhist, bureaucratic Japan flowered — and the power of monks and nobles nearly overturned the throne.

  1. The New Capital

    • The founding of Heijō-kyō

      The court builds a permanent capital at Heijō-kyō, modern Nara, laid out on a grand grid modelled on Tang Chang'an.

  2. The Founding Chronicles

    • The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki

      Japan's oldest books, the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, set down the myths, gods and imperial genealogies of the realm.

  3. Emperor Shōmu

    • A temple in every province

      The devout Emperor Shōmu orders a network of state Buddhist temples, the kokubunji, across the land.

  4. The Great Buddha

    • The Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji

      The colossal bronze Buddha of Tōdai-ji is consecrated in a dazzling ceremony drawing monks from across Asia.

  5. The Poets

    • The Man'yōshū anthology

      The Man'yōshū gathers over four thousand poems, from emperors to frontier guards, in the earliest treasury of Japanese verse.

  6. Monks and Power

    • The Dōkyō affair

      The monk Dōkyō rises to dominate the court and reaches for the throne itself before being cast out on the empress's death.

  7. Leaving Nara

    • The court moves on

      Emperor Kanmu abandons Nara, seeking a capital free of its entrenched temples and clans.