NARA--A tour provider here is sharing his love of this ancient capital by guiding tourists to the city's hidden gems.

Koji Okashita, 36, president of travel agency Chitose Nara, which is based in Nara, has created a succession of distinctive walking tour packages. 

Nara is a famed tourist destination for the Great Buddha at Todaiji temple and the friendly deer at Nara Park.

Okashita, who hails from Nara, admits to becoming "addicted" to the offerings of his hometown as an adult. 

UNIQUE ANGLES

One day in mid-September, a group of people stood before Kasuga Taisha shrine.

The UNESCO World Heritage site is surrounded by a forest where a deity is believed to have descended from the heavens. It is also famed for its elegant red main hall.

The visitors were, however, admiring 2,000 stone lanterns lining the paths leading to the establishment.

“Organizing a lantern-exclusive tour might be possible only at this shrine,” Okashita told the participants.

Hearing a guide’s account of the lanterns’ histories and checking their unique designs on their own, many of the tourists cried out in surprise at every discovery.

With the aim of “exhibiting the little-known attractions of Nara Prefecture,” Okashita founded Chitose Nara in April this year.

The agency has since released 20 tour packages to carve out a niche.

Among these was a tour of the Oriental Folk Museum in Nara for participants to view a collection of rare items as well as sex culture articles from around the world.

A tour of the Hasedera temple in Sakurai was characterized by a photo session led by a priest who is renowned for his Instagram account.

For a burial mound tour, participants were allowed to enter usually inaccessible stone chambers with a guide knowledgeable about ancient grave sites.

The objective of another package was retracing the mysterious history of the traditional Naramachi district.

Deciding who will serve as guides is carefully determined, too.

The Naramachi visit, for example, was with a researcher on the studies of cultural topics connected to “yokai” monsters. A walking tour of Todaiji was provided by a local ryokan inn manager early in the morning one midsummer’s day.

LEARNING TO LOVE NARA

As a Nara native, the younger Okashita used to think of his hometown as having no attractions. Sharing this viewpoint, few adults around him talked about the good points of Nara. Okashita said he would often hang out in the nearby cities of Osaka and Kyoto.

As Okashita devoted himself to playing soccer up until his high school days, he attended a specialized photography school in Tokyo with the dream of becoming a sports photographer.

While working at a photo studio as an assistant, Okashita frequented museums and concert venues to refine his ability to express himself.

He then encountered the 11-face Kannon statue from the Akishinodera temple in Nara at the Tokyo National Museum. He was stunned by its “indescribable appeal and power.”

When he told a nearby museum staff member that he came from Nara, the staff member said, “I envy you.”

The exchange helped Okashita believe that "Nara may have something to offer.”

Upon returning to his hometown in 2010, which was the 1,300th anniversary of the Japanese capital’s relocation to Heijokyo in what currently is Nara, Okashita began visiting temples and shrines during the day.

He took a night course at the Open University of Japan to study the country’s art history.

Okashita began working at a printing firm as a photographer. He was also tasked with designing sightseeing tours there.

Hoping to follow his dream of showing visitors different sides to Nara, he then decided to start his own business.

WALKING TOUR SHOWS RICH HISTORY

The one-person enterprise sells mainly walking tours priced from 4,000 yen ($26) to 7,000 yen on weekends and national holidays.

The corporation includes the word “chitose” (millennium) in its name because of Nara’s 1,000-year history. For example, the famed Omizutori ritual at Todaiji “has been taking place for upward of 1,000 years.”

Each tour is limited to a small group of individuals because participants need to pass through narrow entrances to reach stone chambers in burial mounds and tiny temples managed by regional communities.

A woman from Tokyo said she takes a Chitose Nara tour almost every month now that she has become fed up with trips in Kyoto. The regular customer referred to herself as being “deeply enthralled by Nara.”

Yoshiko Tomomatsu, 65, a local guide awarded the highest status under the Nara tourism guide certificate system, said she admired Okashita for discovering new attractions of the ancient capital in earnest.

“A lot of interesting spots and unknown elements can still be found in Nara if one digs a little deeper,” Tomomatsu said.

Asked why so many unorthodox packages can be offered, Okashita said he owes much to the rich history of Nara.

“The best part of the tour for me is listening to people say they have enjoyed learning new things,” he said. “I just provide them with what I think is interesting.”

For information on tours and other topics, visit Chitose Nara’s Japanese website at (https://chitosenara.com/).