Visit to Nara - New Year 2005

Having arrived safely back in Nihon from Thailand we re-adjusted to the cooler weather over a pizza and some wine in Osaka. The next morning we headed to immerse ourselves in culture at the first official capital of Japan - Nara.

I think a bit of history is called for... Until the 7th century, Japan had no permanent capital as Shinto beliefs held that if the Emperor died, the capital had to be moved. I'm not sure if the builders had a hand in establishing these beliefs - they were certainly onto a winner though! Unfortunately for them the influence of Buddhism overcame this tradition in 710AD and Nara was established as the capital of Japan. This status proved to be short lived however, as a randy Buddhist priest seduced an empress and caused a division between the state and religious powers. Thus after just 75 years, the capital was moved to Kyoto to give the imperial court more room to manoeuvre, away from the many temples of Nara.

Right... History lesson over (for now).

 

The Deer - Messengers of the Gods

Once we had psyched ourselves up for the long walk ahead, we headed out into Nara-koen - a large area of parkland that is home to most of the temples and about 1200 rather hungry deer. These animals (designated as National Treasures) actually pre-date the temples as important religious properties. Another Shinto belief (although maybe not from the builders this time) was that the deer were messengers from the Gods.		Ruth selects her next messenger
Ruth and Adèle have a quick chat with a deer...	... and soon find themselves very popular!	Ruth gets a surprise message - efficiently delivered by a sharp antlered messenger !

Todai-ji (東大寺)

It is fitting that the middle kanji of this temple means BIG... The main attraction for the hoards of tourists who descend on it each year is an enormous bronze image of Buddha. It is housed in what is said to be the largest wooden building in the world, and what is somewhat worrying is that the previous structure was half as big again!

We pottered around the temple, rang the gong and read our fortunes... Ruth will have good luck this year, but Adele and myself will not be so lucky. Hmph - there go the plans for world domination!

The Daibutsu-den, built in 1709	I try to dispel the rather gloomy fortune I am given for 2005	Let's play "Spot the Mariettes" by the main gate to Todai-ji.
The Daibutsu itself standing (well, sitting actually) over 16m high		Like pretty much everything at Todai-ji, the bell is huge!

Nigatsu-do (二月堂)

This hall is located on the side of a hill overlooking the other buildings of Todai-ji and a fair sized chunk of Nara. We struggled up the steps, said "oooh - what a nice view" then tried not to break our necks clambering back down.

The Nigatsu-do

Lanterns framed by the hall.

Taiko in the Kasuga-Taisha Gardens (春日大社庭園)

As we headed towards Kasuga-Taisha we heard a very deep rumbling that did not appear to come from my stomach and was not accompanied by flashes in the sky or movement of the earth. Well, in Japan that can only mean one thing - Taiko!

After following our ears for a good half an hour we finally made it into the gardens of the most famous shrine in Nara.

The full force of the drummers

If you ask me, I think he's compensating for something

Reflections of Rhythm

Kasuga-Taisha (春日大社)

This shrine was founded in the 8th century and is the most visited in Nara - famous for the hundreds of lanterns that line the approach to the main buildings. We arrived in the early evening to find hoards of Japanese people queuing to pray for a successful new year. Every shrine in the country gets insanely busy in the first few days of January, and this was certainly no exception

We bailed out of the crowds for a break and some green tea, then re-joined the masses in a very well organised loop around the site (actually we wouldn't have been able to escape if we had wanted to - there were simply too many people!)

The crowd ahead...

...a bemused onlooker...

...the crowd behind.

Kofuku-ji (興福寺)

The next morning we trundled out towards the park again via another temple - Kofuku-ji. This entire temple (originally 175 buildings) was shifted from Kyoto in 710AD - those builders at it again! Now only a handful remain, but a couple of pagodas and a secret buddhist lab still draw in the crowds.

The five storey pagoda	An octagonal hall	Delly heads to the labatory
	A hunched heron in the gardens

Horyu-ji (法隆寺)

Feeling somewhat "Templed-out" we decided to scoot round just one final site before heading back to Osaka. One brief train journey and a spot of much needed udon later we arrived at Horyu-ji. Founded way back in 607AD the extensive complex houses some very important treasures of Japanese Buddhism. I'm sure they are very interesting, but by that point the rather high entrance fee coupled with our culture overload meant that they would retain their mystery for a while longer! We pottered around the outer building however and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere.

Ruth and I prop up the main gate		The main hall containing many mysterious artifacts
I look in a mirror		A parting view of the pagoda