Day trip to Nara

We had planned on a few day trips out of Kyoto. One possibility was Osaka, but all we heard and read about the place gave the impression of a large, neon, modern place, and we didn't really fee the need to see it. Another option was Kobe, but that was mostly for the beef and we can get the beef here. That left Nara, one place I really did want to see, so we took ourselves off on the train, although with the 4,000.

Nara was the nation's capital before Kyoto was (before Tokyo was), and although it is quite a small town, it has 8 Unesco World Heritage sites. this makes it second only to Kyoto for cultural importance.

Most come here for the big Buddha, and not without reason - it is the largest Buddha in the world and housed in the largest wooden building in the world. It was originally cast in 746, and one can only imagine what it must have been like to see such a thing for 8th century audiences, espcially considering it was entirely covered in gold leaf. Even more considering the current statue is only 2/3 the original size!

Buddha's house

gold chasing on one of Buddha's lotus leaves

The Buddha, known as the Daibutsu, is an image of the cosmic Buddha, whcih sounds like the name of a coffee shop back home, but who was believed to give rise to all worlds and their respective Buddhas. Rumour has it that the statue was built by the Emperor of the time as a charm against smallpox, which had ravaged Japan. Over the centuries, Buddha literally lost his head, several times, due to earthquakes. It took eight castings over a period of 3 years to make him, and he has been recast several times since.

The hall in which Buddha sits, Todai-ji, includes statues of dieties, the sixteen bodhisattvas, and many other treats, including a hug wooden column with a hole in the bottom the size of Buddha's nose. If you can climb through the hole to the other side, it is said that you are ensured of enlightenment. There are a lot of Japanese children assured of enlightenment for they were queuing up to wriggle through. One small adult did, being pushed from behind and pulled from in front, barely making it, to huge applause.

going in...

...and coming out enlightened!

There were also models of the entire complex, constructed in the early 20th century from old drawings and plans. Amazing to think the current building is so much small than the original and there were two enormous pagodas where only one still stands today.

the entire complex as it was originally

the current building

the previous building

the different between old and new

Todai-ji is located in the middle of an enormous park full of small deer who hang around the food stalls, knowing their cuteness is a guarantee that tourists will buy deer food and feed them. They are looking a little mangy at this time of year, and can be quite aggressive, but were without doubt extremely well fed. In pre-Buddhist times they were considered messengers of the gods and today enjoy official status as National Treasures. 

you only love me because I have food in my bag

deer ema

don't want to be that old lady!

The park holds many other shrines and temples, and a lovely National Museum, filled with a lot of bronzes, as well as paintings, sculptures and calligraphy. An odd addition is a log building that would not have looked out of place in Canada. 

One of the shrines was displaying court music, with 4 performers playing traditional instruments in traditional dress. three of these are a sort of recorder cum flute, but the forth looks like a circular arrangement of reeds and sounds like a hummmm. This music is only performed once a month for an hour, so we were lucky to see it, we said to ourselves as we could only handle about 15 minutes of reedy humming. 

We also caught site of a Shinto wedding at one shrine

The rest of the day was walking around the woods and spaces in the park.