NARA -- A photograph of a deer at Nara Park that appears as if the animal is wearing a straw hat against the backdrop of autumn leaves has gone viral on Twitter, attracting some 187,00 likes as of Nov. 5.

       In the picture, shot by a male office worker in west Japan's Kansai region who goes by the alias of "Hisa" on social media, the roof of a gazebo is shown behind the head of a deer standing in the park in the city of Nara, making the roof appear as if it is a hat worn by the park's iconic animal. The photo has generated many favorable comments online, such as, "The deer looks like a lady," and, "It's a real-life image of a Japanese 'hanafuda' playing card (featuring a deer)."

       The man took the shot in November 2020 while visiting Nara, after a friend who was living in Thailand at the time showed him via social media a picture they took and told him that a combination of a deer and a gazebo roof at Nara Park would make a nice composition. The man says he wanted to take a picture like that himself.

       In Hisa's photo, the sunlight filters through red and yellow leaves of trees, exuding an illusionary atmosphere. The deer, standing in the center, has its gaze away from the camera and looks sharp, as if it were a model.

       The man posted the deer photo on Twitter several days later, and initially it garnered around 5,000 likes. Ahead of the onset of the full-fledged autumn leaves season this year, he wanted to have the photo draw attention once more, and reposted it on Sept. 23, sparking a large number of comments online. As of Nov. 5, it had been retweeted around 28,000 times.

       "As many people have given up on traveling amid the coronavirus pandemic, perhaps this photo made them feel as if they were on a trip and came across a nice scene," the man commented.

       Hisa took up his photography hobby in earnest five years ago. He has traveled across the country to take shots of scenic spots and shared them on social media. He tours Nara Prefecture several times a year, and besides Nara Park visited the Hanayagura Observatory in the town of Yoshino to capture the mountain range from there, as well as Hase Temple in the city of Sakurai to portray its scenery.

       For Hisa, who focuses on taking surreal, out-of-the-ordinary pictures, the viral deer photo "is the most fashionable and dreamy" among all his works featuring deer in Nara so far. "I'd like to try and extract a new charm for deer in the future," he said.

       Hisa's Twitter account is @Hisa0808.

       (Japanese original by Yusuke Kato, Nara Bureau)

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