Mount Wakakusa

Mount Wakakusa is a grassy hill rising directly behind the temples of central Nara, its rounded slopes offering wide views over the ancient city and the Yamato plain. Free of trees on its face, the hillside is grazed by the same wild deer that roam the park below, and hikers climb well-worn paths to the summit for sunset. Each January the mountain is the setting for Yamayaki, a dramatic festival in which the dead winter grass is deliberately set ablaze after fireworks, lighting the whole hillside orange against the night.