Big Buddha

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14

My alarm went off super bright and early (okay, my standards do not reflect those of the general population, for some reason.) I scrambled to get dressed and went down to the station. The discount ticket machine didn't have a ticket for Nara, so I bought discount tickets to Kyoto. Once I got to Kyoto, I walked through the barrier, then bought a ticket from Kyoto to Nara (we had to transfer here anyway) then went back in and onto the new platform. All in all, this method only saved me a dollar total, but, hey, that's not that much work for a buck!

Lonely Planet recommended that I get to Nara station, then transfer lines to the closer station, but I decided I was totally capable of walking 15 minutes. I did. Nara is at the northern end of the Yamato Plain and it was here that the Yamato clan rose to power as the first emperors of Japan. These emperors are buried in kofun, burial mounds, which date back to the third century. Nara was the first permanent capital of Japan and has eight Unesco World Heritage Sites. Traditionally, because of Shinto taboos about death, the capital was moved after the passing of each emperor. So, it wasn't until the seventh century when, under the influence of Buddhism and the passing of the Taika reforms in 646 that this practice died out and the entire country came under imperial control.

Two capitals were tried before Nara (then known as Heijokyo) was settled upon in 710. Nara remained the capital for only 75 years, though. When the priest Dokyo seduced an empress and nearly usurped the throne, the court was moved to Kyoto (where it remained until 1868) out of reach of the ever-powerful clergy.

My first stop was Kofuku-ji, in Nara-koen. Nara-koen is a park that makes up much of the east side of the city and was where most of the places I wanted to visit were located. This park is home to approximately 1200 deer, which rule the area like rats or pidgins of other cities. In pre-Buddhist times, they were considered messengers of the gods and today they are national treasures.

There are venders all over the place selling Shika-sembei (deer biscuits) that you can feed the overly-tame deer. It was fun (they're smaller than the ones in Wisconsin) and they were enthusiastic. It was also fun to watch the deer scramble after screaming kids, and less fun to watch parents force a sobbing toddler in front of the towering deer with a cracker in the hopes of a picture.

Kofuku-ji is a temple that was transferred here from Kyoto as the main temple of the Fujiwara family in 710. Today, only about a dozen buildings remain standing, but originally there were 175 in the temple complex. This number has been reduced due to fire and destructive power-struggles. There are two pagodas, a three story one from 1143 and a five story one from 1426, the later is the second tallest in Japan, just a few centimeters shy of the pagoda at To-ji in Kyoto.

In celebration of Nara's 1300 year anniversary, they had two extra buildings open for touring: the inside of one of the pagodas (which had many Buddhas in it), and the back side of the main prayer room (which had one more statue and the... backs... of the statues you could see from the front.

I went into the treasure hall, which has a variety of statues from the old shrine and about a hundred million national treasures and important cultural properties and such. In the middle was a particularly stunning gold statue. English existed, but was limited. While it's nothing I'll rush back to do again, it was interesting to see.

From there, I went to Todai-ji, Nara's most famous attraction. Inside is the famous Daibutsu (Great Buddha), which is housed in the Daibutsu-den hall. I went and checked out the huge Nandai-mon, enormous temple gate, but forgot to circle around to check out the Nio guardians, dating from the 1200s on the outside, which are considered some of the first wooden statues in all of Japan, if not the world. Trust me, I'm kicking myself, but I'll do it my next trip to Nara, when I go to the surrounding areas. I got a picture at the gate, and also, for the second time ever, had someone say, “no” when I asked if they'd take my picture. In this case, I'm wondering if I asked tourists by accident who didn't speak Japanese, so they just ran away.

The Daubutsu-den Hall is the largest wooden building in the world and, stunningly, the current structure, which dates from 1709 is only 2/3 of the size of the original. The Great Buddha inside is one of the largest bronze figures in the world and was originally cast in 746. The current statue was recast in the Edo period and contains 437 tons of bronze and 130 kg of gold. The Buddha itself stands over 16 meters tall. On the (very crowded) approach to the hall, big signs all over the place stated that group pictures were forbidden. There were, though, helpful signs that said that pictures WERE allowed inside, which is nice. It keeps me from guessing.

I got a picture outside, taken by some nice Asian ladies. It wasn't until they answered me in English and I told them that their English was fantastic that they told me they were tourists from Malaysia. Oh. Oops. They were quite nice, though.

The Daibutsu is believed to have been ordered by Emperor Shomu as a charm against smallpox, which had ravaged Japan. The statue itself is an image of Dainichi Buddha, the cosmic Buddha believed to have given rise to all worlds and their respective Buddhas. The Buddha has survived fires and earthquakes (although it's lost its head a few times.)

There was a big gong hanging near the Buddha. I watched some Japanese kids beat it with a mallet and, as they ran away, went and tapped it myself. It rang out loudly (I'm either strong or Japanese kids are weak), and I scuttled away to the amusement of other tourists around me.

In the back of the statue there's a wooden column with a hole in the bottom the exact same size as the Buddha's nostril. It is believed that whoever can squeeze through will gain enlightenment. I would have tried, except there was a huge line and it was all kids. Plus, getting stuck would be embarrassing.

From there, I continued up to Nigatsu-do and Sangatsu-do halls, which are almost like sub-temples. At the top of a hill is Nigatsu-do, which has a temple hall verandah overlooking the plaza It provides a lovely view of Nara and some early Momiji (autumn leaves.) A stranger took a particularly hideous picture of me here.

From Todai-ji, I continued over to Kasuga Taisha shrine, founded in the 700s by the Fujiwara family. It was completely rebuilt ever 20 years according to Shinto tradition until the end of the 1800s. There were plenty of deer around waiting for hand-outs along the way and it was actually amusing to watch the older shop ladies shooing the deer out of their shops. I stepped into one and it smelled faintly of deer piss. Inside the bright orange were lots of people. I took some pictures but decided I didn't want to pay to go into the treasure hall.

My favorite part of the shrine was that I had turned and started to leave (passing two American tourist guys not much older than me) when I remembered that Lonely Planet had said you might as well check out nearby Wakamiya-jinja, as you're in the area, so I turned around and went back in, past them. In the plaza, I was looking around taking pictures when they finally entered and I heard one say to the other, “How's she beat us in here?” I was amused.

The walk to Wakamiya-jinja, which was rather small, though a pleasant stroll, passed some of the famed entrances to Kasuga Taisha, which are lined with hundreds of stone lanterns.

On my way out, I stopped in a little park and sat on a bench to enjoy the pretty view of the pond and eat my sandwich for lunch (it was about 4:00 by this time.) I was doing fine until all of a sudden, from behind me, there was a deer's face in my face trying to get my chocolate sandwich. I defended it, and eventually walked off and the deer, though initially determined, got distracted by someone with deer biscuits and went away. I settled myself on a different bench, this time facing away from the water which provided me protection from the back and a good view of any approaching deer.

I walked back though Higashi-muki arcade, which included a lot of shopping. I stopped in at a little kimono shop and browsed their used kimono very carefully. I ended up buying a yukata obi for quite cheap that I think actually better matches my yukata than the one I bought from my kimono school.

It was during this walking stretch that I finished “My Antonia.” I wasn't expecting the ending. I guess in retrospect, it did kind of wrap up, but it was rather abrupt, although I found listening to the book pleasant.

Then, I hopped back on a train and took the long, tiresome journey back home.