Michelin Green Guide Nara — Three-Star Todai-ji, Horyu-ji and the Ashura Statue, and All 59 Starred Sights

What the Michelin Green Guide is — 59 starred sights in Nara

This is the Michelin Green Guide (Le Guide Vert), which rates destinations rather than restaurants. The Japan edition is published in France: the 4th edition in 2015, the 6th in 2020, and the current one in 2025. Every star below is given with the edition that awarded it.

Nara’s stars gather in three places: around Nara Park, with Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji and Kasuga Taisha; Nishinokyo, with Toshodai-ji and Yakushi-ji; and Ikaruga, with Horyu-ji and Chugu-ji. The park area is walkable; Nishinokyo and Ikaruga need a train or bus. Reckon on one day for Nara Park, two if you add Ikaruga.

Three-star Todai-ji — the Great Buddha Hall, Nandaimon, Hokke-do

Todai-ji is three-star in the 2015 edition, with the Great Buddha Hall and the Great Buddha at two stars. The Buddha is a 15 m Vairocana, and the hall that houses it is among the largest wooden buildings in the world. The Nandaimon gate at the entrance is one-star, and its Nio guardians, carved by Unkei, Kaikei and their workshop, are two-star.

Climb the hill east of the hall and you reach the Hokke-do (Sangatsu-do), a surviving Nara-period building, two-star, as is its principal image, the standing Fukukensaku Kannon. Neighbouring Nigatsu-do (one star) is known for the Omizutori rite each March, and its veranda looks out over the city. The ordination hall, the Todai-ji Museum and the exterior of the Shoso-in are one-star. Do not stop at the Great Buddha: walk up to Nigatsu-do and you have most of Todai-ji’s stars.

The Ashura at Kofuku-ji, Nara Park and the Nara National Museum

In the 2015 edition Kofuku-ji, its Tokondo and its National Treasure Museum are two-star, and the Ashura statue inside the museum is three-star. It is a boyish figure with three faces and six arms; the same hall holds the two-star bronze Buddha head and standing Senju Kannon. Kofuku-ji’s five-storey pagoda (one star) entered major restoration in 2023 and is expected to stay hidden under scaffolding until around 2031.

Nara Park is two-star. Its deer, a designated national natural monument, live throughout it. Feed them nothing but the official deer crackers, and leave no bags or rubbish behind — the rules protect the deer and the visitors alike.

In the park, the Nara National Museum is two-star, and the Shoso-in treasures shown at its annual autumn exhibition are two-star as well. That exhibition is short and crowded, so secure a timed ticket early. The Japanese garden Isuien is one-star.

Kasuga Taisha, Naramachi and Shin-Yakushi-ji

Kasuga Taisha is two-star in the 2015 edition, with its buildings and the Kasugayama Primeval Forest, protected for centuries as sacred ground, at one star. The shrine sits at the eastern end of Nara Park, and some 3,000 lanterns line its approach and grounds. The corridor of vermilion halls and hanging lanterns is a quiet step away from the crowds in the park.

South of there, Shin-Yakushi-ji and its Yakushi Nyorai, surrounded by the Twelve Heavenly Generals, are one-star. Naramachi (one star), spreading south of Kintetsu Nara Station, is the old merchant quarter of narrow townhouses — the right place to eat or rest after Todai-ji and Kasuga Taisha.

Three-star Horyu-ji and the Miroku Bosatsu at Chugu-ji — Ikaruga

The 2015 edition gives three stars to Horyu-ji and, individually, to its Western Precinct, its Kondo and its five-storey pagoda. The Western Precinct buildings are held to be the oldest surviving wooden structures in the world, and in 1993 Horyu-ji became Japan’s first World Heritage site. In the Daihozoin treasure hall, the slender Kudara Kannon and the Tamamushi Shrine, decorated with jewel-beetle wings, are both three-star.

In the Eastern Precinct (one star), the octagonal Yumedono and its principal image, the Guze Kannon, are two-star. The Guze Kannon is a hidden image, shown only for limited periods in spring and autumn. The Shaka triad in the Kondo is two-star. Next to the Yumedono, Chugu-ji (one star) holds the Miroku Bosatsu, the seated half-lotus figure with its faint smile — three-star.

Horyu-ji is about 10 minutes from JR Nara on the Yamatoji line, then a 20-minute walk. The precinct is large, so allow at least two to three hours.

Nishinokyo, Yoshino, and routes by length

The 2015 edition gives two stars to the Kondo of Toshodai-ji and to the East Pagoda and Yakushi Nyorai of Yakushi-ji. Toshodai-ji was founded by Ganjin, who crossed from Tang China; his seated portrait statue (one star) is shown only on a handful of days each year. Yakushi-ji’s East Pagoda has come through a twelve-year dismantling and restoration and is back in its Nara-period form. The two temples are about ten minutes apart on foot.

In southern Nara, Mt. Yoshino — famous for cherry blossom — and Kinpusen-ji, along with the preserved Edo-period streets of Imai-cho in Kashihara, are one-star.

Nara is about 45 minutes from Kyoto by Kintetsu limited express or JR, and about 50 minutes from Osaka on the JR Yamatoji rapid. JR Nara and Kintetsu Nara stations are roughly a kilometre apart, so which line you take decides where you arrive. JR for Horyu-ji, Kintetsu for Nishinokyo — and the Japan Rail Pass covers only the JR lines.

Michelin Green Guide Nara — FAQ

Star ratings: ★★★ worth a special journey / ★★☆ worth a detour / ★☆☆ interesting. Stars come from the 4th (2015) or 6th (2020) edition of the Michelin Green Guide Japan, as noted for each sight, and are reviewed with every edition. “Starred sights” counts every entry the guide awards stars to — including buildings inside a site, museum pieces, viewpoints and routes — so it is not a count of separate locations.