Oh dear re the deer of (and deer mania at) Nara!

The official mascot of Nara, 

Sento-kun... and Puppet Ponyo ;D

Graphic warning sign in deer-infested Nara Park

 A deceptively serene landscape photograph, 

considering that there's a deer in it... ;S

As vivid as my memories of visiting Todaiji were my encountering the deer at Nara Park when I visited the ancient city of Nara back in the fall of 1982.  Back then, I was innocent enough to buy some of those deer crackers sold by vendors; whereupon I got damn near assaulted by a bunch of persistent deer -- none of whom I recall having had the manners to bow to me the way that the deer of Nara are famously able to do.

Expecting to come across though soon after arriving in the city, the way that I had quickly and easily encountered deer seconds after getting out of the ferry terminal at Miyajima, I was initially disappointed that the only "deer" spottings I made were of such as a statue of Sento-kun (the antlered mascot of Nara that Last Week Tonight host John Oliver famously described as looking like the result of "Andre Agassi f**king a reindeer!) at the train station, deer sculptures that were part of an outdoor art exhibition and a deer-themed Daruma doll in a shop window.  

But while the deer in Nara do seem to be restricted to a more specific area than over on Miyajima, it's also true enough that once my mother and I got near to Nara Park, we saw a far greater density of deer there than we saw on Miyajima as a whole. 

In addition, it really was noticeably the case that the deer at Nara look generally bigger as well as older than the bulk of those that we caught sight of in Miyajima -- and also were far more aggressive in their pursuit of things edible.  In particular, I pity those tourists fooled into buying deer crackers because once the deer discovered that someone was in possession of those, they'd surround the hapless human and effectively hound them into giving those precious edible discs up!

Put another way: hearing individuals screaming while running away from a gaggle of deer is a very common thing in Nara Park and its environs (including the outer sections of Todaiji)!  Even more embarassing must be what those folks tasked with cleaning up a not insubstantial amount of deer poop daily have to do in full view of other people (along with the supposedly divine deer)!

And yes, those deer will go after folks who are not in possession of deer crackers too.  As an example, while standing around waiting for my mother (who had wandered off to another section of Todaiji) at one point, I felt someone nudging me, only to discover upon turning and looking that it was -- but of course -- a deer rather than a fellow human doing so.  And it was only after scurrying about in a wide circle that I managed to get that deer away from me -- or, rather, get it to decide that someone else was an easier "mark" than me! ;S