Old Daijoin Temple Garden

This is the Old Daijoin Temple Garden, a 12th century garden which is just a short walk from Nara Hotel

While the garden is lovely and tranquil, our favorite part about visiting the Old Daijoin Temple Garden was the Heritage Center. The center had a calligraphy exhibition on view which was lovely. The people working at the center were delightful and very excited that we showed interested in their work. In the center’s tea room there was a group of women dressed in pretty kimonos who were serving dessert and tea. The women were ecstatic once we finally worked up the nerve to venture into their domain. They rushed to make sure we were comfortable and then spent a half hour or so chatting with us. It would be fair to say that we were just as interested in them as they were in us. The women were eager to let us in on the best things Nara had to offer, specifically the locally grown foods. They even rustled up some Clementine oranges and a persimmon for us to take back to our hotel. These ladies were the model of hospitality and if I had not already fallen in love with Japan this experience sealed the deal. If you pass by the Daijoin Temple Garden stop in, you may just stumble into a charming new world.