Photos: coniferconifer · CC BY 2.0 · Taufik · CC0 (2, 3, 4, 5)
At shika-yose, a Nara Deer Preservation Foundation warden plays a natural horn on the Tobihino field in the Kasuga Taisha grounds, usually Beethoven's "Pastoral", and deer come running out of the woods to be fed acorns.
Why it's unique
The custom began with a bugle at the 1892 dedication of the deer park, and it is still a public ritual: a wild, protected herd called in by horn.
You can feed deer in plenty of places. Watching a free-living herd answer a horn and pour out of the trees across an open field is the thing you cannot see anywhere else.
Before you go
There are two free series a year. "Natsu no shika-yose" runs on ten Sundays from July to September at 9:00, with no booking (the 2026 series has finished). The hotel association's December series runs 1 to 14 December at 10:00; in 2026 it is not held on the 13th. Outside those, a private call can be booked for ¥30,000 a go, one group a day, at least a month ahead.
Stand where the warden points: the herd comes through where people are not. On the free series rain goes ahead and storms cancel.
