Horn Gather Antlers

One man quietly appears at Tobihino field in Kasuga Grand Shrine, Nara Park, and starts to play Beethoven's Symphony No. Six on the horn. Being drawn by the sound of the horn, more than 100 deer rush toward him from all directions!!

You will wonder whether the deer in Nara Park love a classic music or he is a Pied Piper ??  The deer are beckoned by something else. Acorns!

This is known as "Deer Gathering"(鹿寄せ). During winter less grass and less natural food are available, so the deer suffer from food shortages. From February to the beginning of March "Deer Gathering" is held to feed acorns to the deer.

It's over. Let's go home! 

Interesting reflections on the horn, but it has many scratches on it as the deer push and shove it.

The scratches are the history of this horn.

This is Nara Park in summer where fresh grass is everywhere!

This event started in 1892. However, this practice was suspended during World War Ⅱ. In 1949, the sound of the horn came back to Tobihino field. Since then  annually Beethoven's Symphony No. Six has been played on the horn.

Let's me introduce an interesting episode. On February 11th, 1979, Nini Rosso, a world-famous trumpeter came to Tobihino field from Italy. He had been curious whether the sound of a trumpet would be able to gather the deer. He started to play Symphony No. Six on his trumpet. As soon as the melody was absorbed in the wood,. he saw the deer jumping out of the woods one by one.  He was amazed that the deer had a good ear for music.

Besides the most eye-catching thing about the deer is that they practice Japanese custom - bowing to people as we bow when we greet.

In Nara Park there live about 1100 deer. All of them are wild animals and considered as holy messengers of Kasuga god.
 my related blog "I captured a moment".