Nara deer park
On Saturday, April 2nd, I visited the ancient capital of Nara, in Nara Prefecture, on the Kii Peninsula, south of Kyoto.
Nara is famous for the many ancient temples and shrines found there. The city, and the Yamato Plain where it sits, and the Kii Peninsula are the heart of ancient Japan/Yamato. The seat of the greatest power in the island centuries before the warring kingdoms were unified in the early 17th century. In fact, the history and culture found there are overwhelming!
The Deer Park is a prominent feature of the city. (Deer, monkeys and bears are among the largest native fauna. Others include wild boar, foxes, and “tanuki” raccoon dogs.) The 1,200 deer that inhabit the park near Nara Station wander around without any restrictions, and they might appear to be domesticated. I’ve even read that adjective applied to them. But they're not. They are still wild deer. Posted signs warn people in three or four languages: don’t tease them with food; don’t play with them; don’t caress them; don’t let children approach them alone; don’t try to sit on them to take a funny picture. Deer are mythologized as messengers of the shinto gods, so their presence in the park is considered sacred. The city does not feed them. Instead, they subsist on grass and shrubs in the park (the ground is perpetually nibbled down to the dirt), as well as special deer crackers fed to them by visitors, that are sold by vendors for ¥200/packet. Once you have the crackers in your hands the deer know it because they can smell them. They chase you, head butt you, they’ve been known to kick - and they bite!!! I was bitten twice. But feeding them is cute and fun, so I did it. The deer don’t bother the vendors because they’ve been conditioned. They understand that the vendors - who keep their cache of deer crackers sequestered in wire boxes - won’t feed them. But those other humans will.
The deer are very popular with tourists, and one of the city’s attractions. Their antlers are shorn for safety. The vast majority of the animals are female, and they generally keep themselves in family groups. Deer are territorial. There are other herds of deer nearby, on the other side of the local hills, who do not wander into the city because of the presence of the deer park herd. They are territorial rivals.