Ryoushin no Ryokou Part 2: Towers, Giants, and Lanterns

So, we last left off half way through my first day of sightseeing with my family. Having navigated the tunnels of tori at Fushimi-Inari, we hopped the next train to the ancient city of Nara. The city rose to prominence as Japan's first capital over a millennium ago, and has a rich history, including eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites as a result. Nara turns 1300 this year, so there was a lot of last minute construction and restoration work going on in preparation. They were even retrofitting the interior of the train station with wooden panels and columns to give it more of an old temple feel.

I had been to the city once before, when I did my study abroad, and felt pretty competent in my tour guide abilities. But as we left the station, we were approached by a professional tour guide by the name of Mayumi, who was offering basically the same plan I had, but with the added insight of being a local and certified tour guide. We decided to pay her 2000 yen a piece for her services, and I must say it was a great deal. The rain had stopped by this point in the day, so the walk, although long, was rather pleasant.

First Stop: Kofukuji Temple
This sprawling temple complex is the closest one to the JR station, and thus was the first stop for the day. The temple, constructed in Kyoto in 669, was transferred to the new capital in 710, to serve as the main temple for the prominent Fujiwara family, who dominated imperial politics for several centuries through a complicated network of marriage alliances. While the entire complex looks fairly large to the Western eye, only a handful of the original 175 buildings remain, thanks in large part to the scourge of ancient Japan, fires. An enormous pagoda dominates the temple facility, and, having burned down no less than five times over the centuries, still dates from 1426. Other notable buildings include a traditional octagonal memorial hall, another, smaller pagoda, and a treasure hall. Sadly the treasure hall had quite a long line, and cost extra, so we decided to skip it and move on to our next world heritage site.






Second Stop: Todaiji
The Todai-ji temple complex is the main attraction in Nara, mostly for the Daibutsu-den, or Great Buddha Hall, and the massive Buddha statue housed inside. The Daibutsu-den, completed in 752 under the orders of Emperor Shomo, was a massive undertaking, even by today's standards. The current building is the largest wooden structure in the world, but it is only two thirds the size of the original! The present structure was built in 1709, after the first two burned down. Inside resides the Daibutsu, or Great Buddha. Also called the Vairocana Buddha, this bronze statue is the largest of its kind in the world, standing nearly fifty feet in height and weighing in at 500 tons. More the 2.6 million men labored over eight years to complete the great Buddha and its hall, nearly bankrupting the imperial treasury in the process.

As you approach the Todaiji complex, you first encounter the great Nandai-mon, an enormous gate with two fierce Nio Guardians whose pictures flank the top of this blog entry. Guardians of this type are found within the gates of all Buddhist temples, but these were particularly magnificent. Mayumi actually pointed out to me that the statues, carved from wood in the 13th century, actually represent a religious concept that Buddhism shares with Christianity. One guardian's mouth is open, giving the impression that he is speaking the character あ, the first in the Japanese phonetic alphabet. The other keeps his mouth closed, so that he can correctly pronounce the last phonetic character, ん. In this way, they signify that they protect all that is, from beginning to end, much like the Christian notion of the Alpha and the Omega.

Just past the gates, we encountered our first group of Nara deer. As I mentioned in my New Years post, deer are sacred in the Shinto religion, as they are believed to be messengers of the gods. As such, they are allowed to roam freely across Nara, though the males do have their antlers sawed off, for safety reasons. The lazy ones spend their days lounging around the main tourist sites, mooching off of the passersby who purchase special deer cookies to feed them. But if you go a littler farther afield, as I did during my first trip to the city, you can find some deer who are a bit more wild, and even some who still have their antlers. Dad thought they were the coolest thing, and got a ton of pictures made with them. (Go check out his facebook page for them.) After posing with the deer for a few minutes, we made our way into the aforementioned Daibutsu-den, to view the Great Buddha, as well as several other large statues of bodhisatvas and heavenly generals.

Third Stop: Nigatsu-do
After we exited the Daibutsu-den, Mayumi led us past the Todaiji's massive bell, which, like other temple bells across the world, is only wrung on New Years Day, 108 times, to symbolize the 108 sins and temptations that entrap us within this world. Afterward, we meandered up a walled pathway along the slopes of Mt. Wakakusa, to the Todaiji's Nigatsu-do, literally February Hall. We rested here for several minutes, talking to Mayumi, and taking in the breathtaking of Nara, before we made our way to the final stop of the tour...

Fourth Stop: Kasuga Taisha
Our final stop of the afternoon was the Kasuga Grand Shrine. Established in 768 by the Fujiwara, the Grand Shrine is one of three in Japan regularly visited by the Imperial Family. The building complex is not particularly large, nor is it really any more impressive than other mid to large sized shrines. What makes Kasuga Taisha standout though, is over 3000 stone and hanging bronze lanterns that dot the premises. They make for a very impressive site. Mom however, was more enchanted by the dozens of small children in kimono. That weekend happened to coincide with Shichi-Go-San, a coming of age festival for 3, 5, and 7 year old children. She actually got Mayumi-san to ask a couple of families if she could take pictures with their children! Anyways, here's a picture of some lanterns, you can see the rest of my pictures from Nara here . I have one more post to go for this city, hopefully I'll have it up in the next couple of days!