Photo: Maarten Heerlien from Voorschoten, The Netherlands (CC BY 2.0)
A self-guided audio walking tour of Naramachi, the old town that grew over the precinct of Gango-ji, from Gango-ji through the lanes to the west and south and on to Shin-Yakushi-ji east of the old town. It starts at the Gokurakudo of 1244, with the story of Asuka-dera, Japan's first full temple, rebuilt here in 718, and of the merchants and artisans who built over its shrinking precinct from around 1550. Beside it stand the Zenshitsu, the monks' quarters, and the Horinkan with its miniature five-story pagoda; a few lanes south are the foundation stones of the East Pagoda, lost in 1859, and the Nanto Goryo Shrine, founded in 800 to appease vengeful spirits. In the lanes come the Koshin-do with its red migawari-zaru, Shotoin, Tokuyu-ji and Tanjo-ji, linked by legend to the birth of Chujo-hime, and the Koshi-no-Ie, a reconstructed machiya. Then Jurin-in with its stone Jizo niche, the Imanishike Shoin, Fukuchi-in, the Daijo-in Garden restored by Zen'ami after 1451, the earthen stupa of the Zuto and Shiga Naoya's house of 1929. It ends at Shin-Yakushi-ji, founded around 747 by Empress Komyo, with its Twelve Heavenly Generals.
17 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.
Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →
Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.
Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 492 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 28 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.
Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
Gango-ji Gokurakudo, Gango-ji Zenshitsu, Gango-ji Horinkan, Gango-ji Pagoda Site, Nanto Goryo Shrine.
Koshin-do, Shotoin Temple, Tokuyu-ji, Tanjo-ji.
Naramachi Koshi-no-Ie, Jurin-in, Imanishike Shoin, Fukuchi-in, Daijo-in Garden, Zuto, Former Residence of Shiga Naoya, Shin-Yakushi-ji.
The hall of 1244 made from part of a Gango-ji dormitory, with timbers that came to Nara when the temple moved here in 718.
The small neighbourhood hall of the Koshin faith, hung with strings of red migawari-zaru, the 'substitute monkeys' believed to absorb misfortune.
A reconstructed machiya, its koshi lattice front, deep plan, passage garden and box staircase showing how shop and home shared one narrow plot.
The pond garden of a sub-temple of Kofuku-ji, restored by the Kyoto designer Zen'ami and his son after the fire of 1451.
An earthen stupa of 767 built by the monk Jitchu of Todai-ji, not, as later legend claimed, the burial mound of Genbō, its tiers set with stone Buddhas.
The temple Empress Komyo founded around 747 to pray for Emperor Shomu's eyes, whose Main Hall keeps the Yakushi Nyorai and the Twelve Heavenly Generals.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 17 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each site has its own narration. 17 narration points.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Every narrated point in Nara — Gango-ji and the Merchant Town of Naramachi, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
17 narration points, including Naramachi Koshi-no-Ie, Gango-ji Gokurakudo, Gango-ji Zenshitsu, Gango-ji Horinkan and Gango-ji Pagoda Site. That is about 28 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.
Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.
Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):
On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.
If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~1–2 hours total, but you walk at your own pace. 17 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.