The Nara Basin (奈良盆地 ''Nara-bonchi''), also known as the Yamato Basin (大和盆地 ''Yamato-bonchi''), is a valley in the north-western part of

Nara Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It has an area of roughly . It is surrounded on four sides by mountains: the Yamato Plateau in the east, the Ikoma- Kongō range in the west, the Narayama Hills in the north (which separate it from the Kyoto Basin), and the Ryūmon Mountains in the south. The valley itself makes up only around 8% of the land area of Nara Prefecture, but the terrain is especially fit for rice production, and as the site of the ancient capital of

Heijō-kyō was the Capital of Japan during most of the Nara period, from 710 to 740 and again from 745 to 784. The imperial palace is a listed UNESCO World Heritage together with other places in the city of Nara (cf. Historic Monuments of Ancient ...

it served as a political and cultural centre. Today it is closely connected to the

Keihanshin is a metropolitan region in the Kansai region of Japan encompassing the metropolitan areas of the cities of Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Osaka in Osaka Prefecture and Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture. The entire region has a population () of 19,302,746 ov ...

metropolitan area by a strong transport infrastructure, with several major cities growing up in the area in addition to the prefectural capital

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

, and is the most densely populated region of the prefecture.

Geography

The Nara Basin, which is also known as the Yamato Basin, is located in the north-western part of

. It is surrounded on four sides by mountains: in the east by the Yamato Plateau (which is raised up by the Kasuga

fault scarp A fault scarp is a small step-like offset of the ground surface in which one side of a fault has shifted vertically in relation to the other. The topographic expression of fault scarps results from the differential erosion of rocks of contrastin ...

); in the west by the Ikoma- Kongō range; in the north by the , which separate it from the ; and in the south by the . The basin has a total land area of around . This accounts for only about 8% of the land area of the prefecture, but because of its flat and fertile alluvial soil it is especially suited for cultivating rice

History

The imperial capital of

was constructed here in the eighth century (the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

), making this region the political and cultural centre of Japan at the time.

Population and demographics

As of 2000, the population of the Nara Basin was around 1.24 million.

Settlements

The prefectural capital

, as well as several important settlements (such as Kashihara, Yamatokōriyama, Tenri, Yamatotakada, Sakurai and

Gose Gose () is a warm fermented beer that is usually brewed with at least 50% of the grain bill being malted wheat (with the rest being malted barley such as Pilsner malt), fruit syrups - such as lemon and coriander - and salt - either added or a ...

), are located in the Nara Basin, making it the most densely populated region of Nara Prefecture. It is closely connected to the

metropolitan area (

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

) by a strong transport infrastructure.

References

Works cited