Nara’s two largest ticketed sites price themselves very differently: Todaiji charges a flat 800 yen to every visitor from junior high school upwards, while the Nara National Museum charges 700 yen for its masterpiece exhibition and has closed its sculpture hall until around spring 2028. Todaiji’s ticket windows also take cash only.
Todaiji prints one individual price and three group prices above elementary school
The temple’s Japanese admission page, which carried a notice dated 29 July 2026 at the top when read, charges separately at the Daibutsuden, the Hokkedo, the Kaidando and the Todaiji Museum. The individual column does not distinguish adults from high school or junior high school students: all three pay 800 yen. The distinction appears only in the column for groups of 30 or more, where the same three categories pay 700, 500 and 400 yen.
| Category | Individual | Group of 30 or more |
|---|---|---|
| Adult (university student and above) | 800 yen | 700 yen |
| High school student | 800 yen | 500 yen |
| Junior high school student | 800 yen | 400 yen |
| Elementary school student | 400 yen | 200 yen |
A combined ticket covering the Daibutsuden and the Todaiji Museum costs 1,200 yen for visitors from junior high school upwards and 600 yen for elementary school students, and is sold at either building. Visitors presenting a disability certificate pay 400 yen as an individual in all three categories above elementary school, and 200 yen for elementary school students; the special group rate for disability facilities and special-needs schools is 350, 250, 200 and 100 yen for the same four categories. Holders of either of two cards issued by Nara City for older residents enter free, the card holder only, when the card is shown at the window on the day.
Group visits are not booked in advance and neither fax nor telephone notice is required. The free list is longer than the group rates suggest: teaching staff, doctors, nurses, tour conductors, crew, photographers and licensed interpreter guides accompanying a group all enter free, while a teacher making an advance inspection visit pays the individual 800 yen. Outside the tables, members of the temple’s supporters’ association enter free, members of the Great Buddha subscription association enter free with up to two companions, and Nara city primary and junior high schools enter free where teaching staff lead the group as part of a lesson. A guide-training group enters free only if its representative files a sealed exemption application in advance and produces the stamped form on the day. Payment at the windows is cash only.
The English page sets the same prices by age, and names a different Kaidan-in building
Todaiji’s English admission page prints the same four prices, 800, 800, 800 and 400 yen as an individual and 700, 500, 400 and 200 yen for a group of 30 or more, but it defines the categories by age rather than by school level: Adult, 16 to 18 years old, 13 to 15 years old, and 6 to 12 years old. Its joint pass table has only two rows, Adult at 1,200 yen and 6 to 12 years old at 600 yen, so the 13 to 15 band is not shown there. The disability rates, the two Nara City card exemptions and the group-visit notes do not appear on the English page at all. The two pages also disagree on one building: the hours row that the Japanese page gives to the Kaidando is given on the English page to the Senju-do at the Kaidan-in, while the English fee note lists the Kaidan-do as one of the four places that charge. The notice dated at the top of the English page was from 23 November 2024.
The four ticketed buildings open at three different times from April to October
Hours are set by building and by season. Only the Daibutsuden opens before 8:00, and only in the warmer half of the year: 7:30 to 17:30 from April to October, and 8:00 to 17:00 from November to March. The Hokkedo, also called the Sangatsudo, and the Kaidando keep 8:30 to 16:00 in a single row covering both halves of the year. The Todaiji Museum opens at 9:30 in both seasons and closes at 17:30 with last admission at 17:00 from April to October, and at 17:00 with last admission at 16:30 from November to March.
| Building | April to October | November to March |
|---|---|---|
| Daibutsuden | 7:30 to 17:30 | 8:00 to 17:00 |
| Hokkedo and Kaidando | 8:30 to 16:00 | 8:30 to 16:00 |
| Todaiji Museum | 9:30 to 17:30, last admission 17:00 | 9:30 to 17:00, last admission 16:30 |
The page states the temple does not close except for special events or an emergency. An audio guide, a touch pen with earphones and a map, rents for 500 yen per person and holds 30 minutes covering the temple’s history, buildings and statues. It is handed out 15 metres past the Daibutsuden ticket gate, and the counter is open from 10:00 to 17:00 from April to October and from 10:00 to 16:30 from November to March. Individuals do not reserve it; groups of ten or more do. Nine languages are listed, with two Japanese tracks for adults and children.
The seated figure is 14.98 metres, and Kamakura’s temple writes that its own statue is smaller
Todaiji prints the bronze Rushana figure’s dimensions: 14.98 metres for the statue itself, with an eye of 1.02 metres, an ear of 2.54 metres, a face of 5.33 metres, a nose of 0.50 metres and a pedestal 3.05 metres high. The hall around it measures 57.012 metres east to west, 50.480 metres north to south and 48.742 metres high. The temple’s own account of the Edo-period rebuilding explains the shape: the Tenpyo and Kamakura halls were 11 bays across, about 88 metres, and financial difficulty reduced the rebuilt hall to 7 bays, while the height and the depth were kept as they were at the founding.
Kamakura’s own English page settles the comparison. Kotoku-in describes the Kamakura Daibutsu as a copper image of Amida-butsu, designated a National Treasure, some 11.3 metres tall and weighing around 121 tons, and states that in size it falls short of the Great Buddha of Todai-ji Temple at Nara. The gap between the two published heights is 3.68 metres, which is a subtraction made here rather than a figure either temple prints. Kotoku-in adds that its statue sits in the open air, which it calls unusual among large Buddha statues in Japan, and that construction began in 1252 according to the Azumakagami.
The national museum’s sculpture hall is shut until around spring 2028
The admission page carries a closure notice: the Buddhist sculpture hall closed on Monday 14 September 2026 for renovation and is scheduled to stay closed until around spring 2028. The bronze hall was itself closed from 1 to 14 September 2026, and the page states that from 15 September 2026 only the bronze hall is open. While the sculpture hall is closed, the bronze hall may be viewed free of charge.
The price table is unchanged: the masterpiece exhibition, special displays and feature displays cost 700 yen for a general visitor and 350 yen for a university student showing a student card, with no charge for visitors of high school age and under, visitors under 18, visitors aged 70 and over, and carers equal in number to a visitor with a disability certificate. Special exhibition prices are set separately for each exhibition, and a special exhibition ticket also admits the holder to the masterpiece exhibition. Three discounts are printed: 100 yen off a general ticket and 50 yen off a university ticket for up to two adults accompanying a child of high school age or under; the same reduction after 17:00 on the days when hours are extended; and a reduction for anyone showing a ticket stub from the Nara Prefectural Museum of Art or the Irie Taikichi Memorial Museum of Photography Nara City, the size of which the page leaves to each museum. The page adds that the discounts cannot be combined, and it does not explain how the 700 yen applies while the one open hall is free.
Hours come in three blocks for the 2026 financial year. From 1 September to 23 October 2026 the halls run 9:30 to 17:00, with Saturdays to 19:00. From 24 October to 9 November 2026, the period of the 78th Shosoin Exhibition, they run 8:00 to 18:00, and to 20:00 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. From 11 November 2026 the hours return to 9:30 to 17:00 for the time being, with 14, 21 and 28 November and 17 December running to 19:00. Admission closes 30 minutes before the halls do in every case. The museum closes on Mondays, opening instead when the Monday is a public holiday and closing the following weekday, and from 28 December to 1 January.
The palace site holds nine buildings under three offices and two closing rules
The Heijo Palace Site Historical Park lists nine facilities, and they are not run by one office. Three give the park’s management centre on 0742-36-8780: the Daigokumon with its east tower, the information centre for the first Daigokuden compound restoration project, and the Izanaikan. Five give the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ palace site office on 0742-32-5106: the first Daigokuden, the Suzakumon, the East Palace Garden, the excavated remains hall and the presumed Ministry of the Imperial Household. The ninth, the palace site museum, gives the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties on 0742-30-6753.
The three facilities under the management centre close on the second Monday of February, April, July and November, taking the following day when that Monday is a public holiday, and from 29 December to 1 January. The five under the Agency for Cultural Affairs close every Monday, taking the following weekday when the Monday is a holiday, and from 29 December to 3 January. The palace site museum also closes on Mondays. A visitor who arrives on an ordinary Monday therefore finds six of the nine shut and three open. Hours divide the nine differently: three close at 17:00 with entry until 16:30, the other six at 16:30 with entry until 16:00.
January is the coldest month in all three temperature columns, and the year’s snowfall totals 5 cm
The Meteorological Agency’s climate normals for Nara cover 1991 to 2020 with 30 years of data in every one of the 19 columns. Three of those columns — mean cloud amount, days with fog and days with thunder — carry the agency’s reference-value mark, which the page defines as meaning a figure that cannot be used for differences from or ratios to the normals, and they are not used here.
January is colder than February in each of the three temperature columns: the monthly mean is 4.5 degrees against 5.1, the mean daily maximum is 8.7 against 9.9, and the mean daily minimum is 0.8 against 1.0. August is the warmest month on both the mean and the daily maximum. Annual precipitation is 1,365.1 mm.
| Period | Mean temperature | Mean daily maximum | Mean daily minimum | Snowfall total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.5 C | 8.7 C | 0.8 C | 1 cm |
| February | 5.1 C | 9.9 C | 1.0 C | 3 cm |
| August | 27.8 C | 33.4 C | 24.1 C | Not printed |
| Year | 15.7 C | 20.9 C | 11.5 C | 5 cm |
Snow is recorded falling on 33.9 days a year at Nara, yet the normal for total snowfall depth over the year is 5 cm and the deepest snow cover 3 cm. Only four months carry a printed snowfall figure at all: 1 cm in January, 3 cm in February, and 0 cm in both March and December. Those four add to 4 cm, one centimetre short of the 5 cm on the year row; that addition is made here, and yearly and monthly normals are calculated separately, so the two rows need not agree. Arriving from Kyoto on the JR line into Nara is covered separately in the note on JR’s Nara Line rapid services and Inari Station.
Sources Checked
Todaiji — admission hours and fees page
Confirmed that the individual price is 800 yen for adults from university upwards, high school students and junior high school students, and 400 yen for elementary school students; that the group price for 30 or more is 700, 500, 400 and 200 yen for the same four categories; that the combined Daibutsuden and Todaiji Museum ticket is 1,200 yen from junior high school upwards and 600 yen for elementary school students; that payment is cash only; that disability certificate holders pay 400, 400, 400 and 200 yen as individuals and 350, 250, 200 and 100 yen on the special group rate; that holders of either of two cards issued by Nara City for older residents enter free; that group visits are not booked and neither fax nor telephone notice is required; that accompanying teaching staff, doctors, nurses, tour conductors, crew, photographers and licensed interpreter guides enter free; that an advance inspection visit by a teacher costs 800 yen; that members of the temple’s supporters’ association enter free and members of the Great Buddha subscription association enter free with up to two companions; that Nara city primary and junior high schools enter free where teaching staff lead the group as part of a lesson; that a guide-training group needs a sealed exemption application filed in advance; that the Daibutsuden runs 7:30 to 17:30 from April to October and 8:00 to 17:00 from November to March; that the Hokkedo and Kaidando run 8:30 to 16:00; that the Todaiji Museum runs 9:30 to 17:30 with last admission 17:00 and 9:30 to 17:00 with last admission 16:30; that the temple does not close except for special events or an emergency; and that the audio guide costs 500 yen, holds 30 minutes, is handed out 15 metres past the Daibutsuden ticket gate, is available from 10:00 to 17:00 and from 10:00 to 16:30 by season, requires reservation for groups of ten or more, and is offered in nine languages with separate adult and child Japanese tracks.
https://www.todaiji.or.jp/information/haikan/
Todaiji — English opening hours and admission fees page
Confirmed that the English page prints the individual prices 800, 800, 800 and 400 yen and the group prices 700, 500, 400 and 200 yen against the categories Adult, 16 to 18 years old, 13 to 15 years old and 6 to 12 years old; that its joint pass table shows only Adult at 1,200 yen and 6 to 12 years old at 600 yen; that it carries no disability rates, no Nara City card exemptions and no group-visit notes; that its hours table names the Senju-do at the Kaidan-in in the row the Japanese page gives to the Kaidando, while its fee note names the Kaidan-do as one of the four charging places; that the audio guide is listed at 500 yen in nine languages with a 30 minute recording; and that the notice dated at the top of the page was from 23 November 2024.
https://www.todaiji.or.jp/en/information/haikan/
Todaiji — Daibutsuden building page
Confirmed the statue height of 14.98 metres with an eye of 1.02 metres, an ear of 2.54 metres, a face of 5.33 metres, a nose of 0.50 metres and a pedestal of 3.05 metres; the hall dimensions of 57.012 metres east to west, 50.480 metres north to south and 48.742 metres high; and that the Tenpyo and Kamakura halls were 11 bays across, about 88 metres, while the Edo rebuilding was reduced to 7 bays with the original height and depth retained.
https://www.todaiji.or.jp/information/daibutsuden/
Kotoku-in — The Great Buddha and the Teachings of Kotoku-in
Confirmed that the Kamakura statue is a copper image of Amida-butsu designated a National Treasure, some 11.3 metres tall and weighing around 121 tons; that the temple writes that in size it falls short of the Great Buddha of Todai-ji Temple at Nara; that it sits in the open air, which the temple calls unusual among large Buddha statues in Japan; and that construction began in 1252 according to the Azumakagami.
https://www.kotoku-in.jp/en/about.html
Nara National Museum — hours, closing days and admission
Confirmed that the Buddhist sculpture hall closed on 14 September 2026 for renovation until around spring 2028 as planned; that the bronze hall was closed from 1 to 14 September 2026 and that only the bronze hall is open from 15 September 2026; that the bronze hall may be viewed free of charge during the sculpture hall’s closure; that the masterpiece exhibition costs 700 yen for a general visitor and 350 yen for a university student, with no charge for visitors of high school age and under, visitors under 18, visitors aged 70 and over, and carers equal in number to a certificate holder; that special exhibition prices are set per exhibition and a special exhibition ticket also admits the holder to the masterpiece exhibition; that three discounts are printed, being the accompanying-adult and after-17:00 reductions of 100 yen off a general ticket and 50 yen off a university ticket and the cross-museum reduction on a ticket stub from the Nara Prefectural Museum of Art or the Irie Taikichi Memorial Museum of Photography Nara City, and that the discounts cannot be combined; that hours are 9:30 to 17:00 from 1 September to 23 October 2026 with Saturdays to 19:00, 8:00 to 18:00 from 24 October to 9 November 2026 with Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays to 20:00, and 9:30 to 17:00 from 11 November 2026 with four named dates to 19:00; that admission closes 30 minutes before the halls; and that the museum closes on Mondays and from 28 December to 1 January.
https://www.narahaku.go.jp/info/fee/
Heijo Palace Site Historical Park — facility information
Confirmed the nine listed facilities and their three contact offices; that three facilities close on the second Monday of February, April, July and November and from 29 December to 1 January; that five close every Monday and from 29 December to 3 January; that the palace site museum also closes on Mondays; and that three facilities close at 17:00 with entry until 16:30 while six close at 16:30 with entry until 16:00.
https://www.heijo-park.jp/information/facility/
Japan Meteorological Agency — climate normals for Nara
Confirmed that all 19 columns run from 1991 to 2020 with 30 years of data; that mean cloud amount, days with fog and days with thunder carry the reference-value mark, which the page defines as marking a figure that cannot be used for differences from or ratios to the normals; that the January, February, August and annual figures for mean temperature, mean daily maximum and mean daily minimum are 4.5, 8.7 and 0.8, 5.1, 9.9 and 1.0, 27.8, 33.4 and 24.1, and 15.7, 20.9 and 11.5 degrees; that annual precipitation is 1,365.1 mm; that snow is recorded on 33.9 days a year; that the annual snowfall total is 5 cm and the deepest snow cover 3 cm; and that only January, February, March and December carry printed snowfall figures, of 1, 3, 0 and 0 cm.
https://www.data.jma.go.jp/stats/etrn/view/nml_sfc_ym.php?prec_no=64&block_no=47780
Last updated: September 2026
