From Country of Deer

Now is the  birth season of the deer in Nara Park. Mothers, new born babies and the pregnant  have been kept in a deer pen of Kasuga Grand Shrine for a while. Sometime in July, these baby deer will debut in the park. Mothers identify their babies with smell, so do not touch but watch them warmly. If human smell transfers to them, mothers will leave them.

A tiny life is standing firm and sucking at the breast. New born babies weight about 3kgs. After 10 minutes to 2 hours, they stand up and start to suck at the breast. Around 20 days after birth, they  start to eat soft grass also.

Babies are sleepy  and grow while sleeping.

Walk five minutes or so from  Kintetsu Nara Station, you will  be in the middle of Nara Park and see the gentle deer roaming here and there. In the park, there are about 1100 deer which are not kept by anybody. They are wild animals. But, their habitat and the world of people are largely and complicatedly overlapped. It has caused many problems or troubles in both sides - people and the deer. So both of them have been giving grand each other little by little and managed to live side by side.

During deer cracker stalls or shops are open, many deer are waiting around them.They never shoplift but bow to visitors to  beg the crackers. Other deer are moving from one feeding ground to another.

Can you guess what  the deer  are doing? They are waiting for a good timing to cross a road. 

This is the most tense moment. I can not help keeping an eye on them until they finish crossing. 

Sadly enough, already the deer habitat has been divided by the roads.

Nara became the capital of Japan in 710. According to legend, the most powerful Shinto deity was invited to protect the new Capital. The deity came all the way from Kashima Shrine in Ibaraki Prefecture riding on the back of a white deer and descended on the top of Mt. Mikasa. This deity has been enshrined in one of four main shrines in the sanctuary of Kasuga Grand Shrine. All deer in Nara Park are believed to be the descendants of this one white deer and to be the messengers of Kasuga god.

The first Torii gate of Kasuga Grand Shrine

The deity traveled on the back of a white deer to Nara.

(Photo taken from Google)

I love this scene where the deer are going home in early sunset. The most soothing moment for me.

It is said Nara Park is the only one precious  place in the world where the wild animals and people live closely and peacefully  overcoming various issues. That is why the deer in Nara Park have been  designated as a national natural treasure.

My world in Nara is always with the deer.

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