Visit Todai-ji and Kasuga Taisha in one walk, and see on the ground how Buddhism and Shinto have overlapped in the old capital of Nara.

Not only the buildings and the statues: here you can take in the sense of Mikasa-yama itself being sacred ground.

Time for shakyo, copying a sutra to quiet the mind, so this becomes more than a visit you simply look at.

Your guide takes photographs along the way, and at the end we see you to a convenient point for your onward journey.

After we meet, we lay out the route ahead and a map of the roles Todai-ji and Kasuga Taisha have played in Nara as a capital.

At Todai-ji you stand close to the overwhelming scale of the Great Buddha, the guardian figures of the Nandaimon, and the marks that long centuries have left in the pillars.

From the stone corridors of Nigatsu-do you look out over the landscape of the old capital while we talk about how Buddhism and Shinto have overlapped in this country.

At Kasuga Taisha, take in the sense that the mountain rising behind the shrine buildings is itself the sacred ground.

You try shakyo, tracing a sutra one character at a time without chasing the meaning, and spend a while as your mind goes quiet.

There is time at each stop to walk at your own pace, and we finish in Nara Park.