Nara Basin (奈良盆地)
Nara Basin is a fault basin which has an altitude of below 100 meters and is located in the northwestern area of Nara Prefecture in Japan.
It is also called 'Yamato Basin.'
It has an area of approximately fifteen kilometers from east to west, and approximately thirty kilometers from north to south, and is rhomboid-shaped. Also, rivers running in this basin such as Saho-gawa River and Tomio-gawa River meet Yamato-gawa River and flow westward into Osaka Bay.
Generally speaking, the term "Nara Basin" often refers to the area including Yata-kyuryo Hills, Akahada-kyuryo Hills, Keihanna-kyuryo Hills (in Nara Prefecture), and Umami-kyuryo Hills, etc. other than the basin region. Furthermore in the postwar period, the population in the basin region increased as it became a commuter town to the center of Nara City, and to Osaka City and Kyoto City, etc.; in northern part of Yata-kyuryo Hills and Akahada-kyuryo Hills, Japanese new towns developed significantly. A part of Keihanna-kyuryo Hills is being developed as an area of Kansai Science City which belongs to Nara Prefecture. A part of these hills includes rivers flowing into Yodo-gawa Water System such as Amano-gawa River and Kizu-gawa River (Kyoto Prefecture). It has the population of 1.2 million, which is eighty-six percent of the population of the whole area of Nara Prefecture (approximately 1.4 million).
Before the transfer of the capital to Heiankyo (ancient capital in current Kyoto) until the Nara period, this area flourished as the political and cultural center. The place in the old Yamato Province which corresponds to Nara Basin is also called Kunnaka, and the sankanbu (mountain-ringed region) is also called Sanchu.
Although it is a basin, in winter the climate is mild and comfortable. Sweltering nights in summer season only last for about ten days.