Nara’s Asuka Area

Tracing the Seeds of Imperial Japan

Think you know Nara? Think again!

Today we will be traveling back in time to a period long before Nara became the capital of Japan in 710. We’ll be examining the Asuka area and the period of time from 538–710 that bears its name. This section of Japan lies within what is today Nara Prefecture and is located just a few kilometers to the south of the extremely popular Nara Park. Here, in the early mists of Japanese history, the powers of the time began to coalesce into a single group known as the Yamato polity. Thereafter, this group polity and its central imperial line went on to dominate all of Japan for the rest of history. Hell, the present day emperor is a direct descendant of this early lineage!

But hold up. What’s all this about Nara being the capital? Wasn’t Kyoto the “old capital” of Japan? Oh boy, are you in for a bit of confusion here! The simplest way of explaining the early system of the Japanese empire is as follows. Essentially, death in Shintoism is viewed as something impure and the passing of an emperor was considered the ultimate impurity due to his divine lineage. Because of this, it was customary to move the site of the capital following the death of the emperor. Eventually, the Japanese realized that this wasn’t exactly practical and settled on Kyoto (then called Heian-kyo) for the…