Higashimuki Shopping Street

photo by Kochizufan · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by Cun Cun · CC BY-SA 4.0

The name means ‘facing east’: Kōfuku-ji stood there, and the houses were built facing it.

The name Higashimuki, ‘facing east’, comes from the fact that the buildings of Kōfuku-ji took up the whole eastern side of the street: so the houses were built only on the west side, with their fronts facing the temple. Today it is the busiest shopping street in Nara, one minute's walk from Kintetsu Nara Station.

The street runs along the west side of the temple grounds of Kōfuku-ji, in the heart of Nara, and bears the mark of it in its name: a case in which a single religious building determined the shape of an entire shopping street.

ℹ️ A public street, always open to walk along; opening hours are those of the individual shops. One minute's walk from Kintetsu Nara Station.

🚉 Kintetsu Nara · 2 min walk

Sources: narashikanko.or.jp

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