Nara

We were heading to Nara today, historically a capital of Japan until the 8th Century it has numerous significant temples, shrines, ruins and gardens dating back to 752CE. Again leaving the hotel early this morning, we headed over to the JR Namba station to attempt to decipher the transit system here. Google successfully led us to a train that went directly to Nara, which was fortunate, and I managed to download an Osaka train map which has made things much easier (everything’s very logical in Japan, which makes things much easier). The train left on time (obviously, it’s Japan) and we arrived in Nara in time for breakfast (couple of pastries + coffee for me), then got a bus over to Nara Park, which is a huge park where all of the temples etc are retained. I had read that there are deer wandering freely around the park, however didn’t realise quite how many there would be. According to local folklore, Sika deer from this area were considered sacred due to a visit from Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto, one of the four gods of Kasuga Shrine. You can buy rice crackers to feed to them and, when they want to be fed, they bow their heads at you. It’s incredibly cute to see a deer approaching and bowing in search of food, however their natural habitat has been somewhat destroyed by the level of tourism that now feeds them. 

Wading through the numerous deer, and after having our map partially eaten by a particularly aggressive chap (deer not human), we arrived at Nandaimon Gate, a massive wooden construction which was completed in 1203 and, remarkably, is still the original. This is the gate for the Todai-ji temple, which houses the largest brass Buddha in the world. The processional route between the two is as impressive as you can imagine, with a lake on the right, and loads of trees framing the drive. Once at the temple we paid the 600yen entrance fee and grabbed an English speaking guide to give us a bit of a backstory. He was great, Amelia even got a little origami crane for getting a question right (favouritism), but had a bit of a cold which made understanding him slightly more difficult. Originally constructed in 752CE, it was the catalyst behind the capitals relocation to Nara. It was the head of all the Buddhist temples of Japan and was constructed for the massive, 15 meter tall, brass Buddha which still stands today. Originally it was plated in gold (wow) but, after two fires destroyed the first and second iterations of the temple, it now sits in place with a dark, patina, brass finish, flanked by two slightly less massive golden acolytes, or ‘Bodhisattvas’. It really is hugely impressive. The temple was the largest wooden construction in the world until recently, which is even more remarkable considering the original (that was burnt down) was 30% bigger than this current one. Twice a year the massive Buddha gets to look outside when they open the windows (new year and an August festival). There is also a hole in a column at the back of the hall which is said to be the same size as the Buddha’s nostril and will bring good fortune and wisdom to those who can fit through. We weighed it up but didn’t really fancy potentially getting stuck in front of a large, baying crowd (the hole is tight). 

Heading off from here we passed through beautiful parkland and a load more shines, temples, lakes and deer (so many) up a hill to the verandah of a temple for a view across the park and town beyond. Very beautiful. The weather was great today as well which was pretty lucky as the entire day was outside barring the train rides. Beyond this was the Kinryu and Wakmiya Shrines, where there are hundreds of large stone lanterns (sort of look like tall gravestones) that have been donated to the site and are only lit twice a year. This must look truly astonishing as there are literally hundreds, at quite a few places two deep either side of the path. We were led astray to another temple a kilometre away which wasn’t anything special at all (I’m sure it actually is but we were pretty tired and Amelia especially hungry by this point) so we headed back to the museum for some food. This was especially unsuccessful as, after waiting in a queue for a while, the restaurant turned out to be out of stock of 3 of the 4 main dishes, and we didn’t really fancy the available one. So we headed back over to the entrance where we knew there was a selection of restaurants. We picked one at random and both ordered a bowl of noodle soup-type-thing. Unfortunately, as with much of Japanese cuisine, it was seasoned with fishy seasoning which Amelia didn’t enjoy at all. I thought mine was pretty great though. 

Slightly refreshed, we then fed the deer, which was a fun if not slightly traypumatic experience. I was suitably stern with those that came to feed from me, however Amelia wasn’t, got scared and one gave her a nip on the bottom. Pretty hilarious for me and a few onlooking tourists. Slightly shaken we went on to the Yoshikien Garden, which is beautiful and I discovered I prefer moss to grass as a ground covering. It’s just very pretty. Then onwards to the Kofuku-ji complex which has another massive temple and a five storied pagoda. Again very beautiful and very impressive. It had reached about half 4 by this point and we were both absolutely shattered so we headed back to the train, via another strawberry-in-a-bun thing, to return to Osaka. 

We had grand visions of going to some karaoke tonight however we were both too tired to venture that far so just went for a look around the mall where the hotel is based. They love a mall here, it has three levels of restaurants of all cuisines, especially Hawaiian which is slightly odd, and was packed. We ended up picking the one with the biggest queue and no indication that they spoke any English, which would be especially difficult as it was an establishment where you essentially pick out raw skewers of whatever meat and vegetables you like from a counter, then combine these with batter and breadcrumbs and deep fry them at your table. A lot of fun and very messy. We had 90 minutes to eat as much as we wanted (too much) and finished this all off with a large waffle creation that Amelia made (waffle, all of the ice cream, marshmallows, chocolate, fruits) which turned many heads in the restaurant when we walked past. 

After eating too much we waddled back to the hotel (fortunately a short walk) very much ready for bed.