Nara Koen

Today we took the train to Nara, set up in 710 as the "permanent" capital of the nascent Japan. "Permanent" turned out to be 74 years when the capital was moved to Kyoto, but that short time made Nara the center of Japanese crafts, arts, religion, and literature, and much of that influence remains today. Its relative obscurity for the past 1200+ years has allowed the old parts of Nara to stay somewhat unchanged. In some places (the few not overrun with visiting school children), you get a sense of how things used to be. Most of the old city remains in Nara Koen (Nara Park), which is notable by being overrun with deer. Legend has it that Takenomikazuchi-no-mikoto, one of the five gods of the Kasuga shrine, once landed atop a mountain riding on a white deer. The deer are thus sacred messengers and are designated "treasures" of the park. They are most frequently found around food stands or nuzzling the schoolchildren who buy packets of "deer crackers "to feed them.

Besides the deer, the attractions are many and increase in spendor as you walk the many kilometers through the park, beginning with two huge pagodas - a 3-storied one and a 5-storied one (pictured above). But the center of attraction is Todai-ji, the most important temple in Nara, founded in 743, with its Daibutsu-den, a huge temple of Buddha, which is the largest wooden structure in the world. That's it behind me. Inside is a monumental statue of the Great Buddha.

The picture can't capture its vastness, and oddly despite the crowds, the stillness. It was always clear that these were religious shrines, not just tourist places. Many people stopped to pray in front of the various statues.

As we walked around the grounds, we were frequently approached by a couple of schoolchildren who said (it was always the same, as they were reading from a notebook), "Do you mind talking to me?" "What is your name?" (then they gave us their names in English--"My name is xxx") "Where are you from?" etc. After this brief conversation, in perfect English, we were asked to sign the notebook. So we became Japanese "homework." Once I said back to one, "Watashi wa kyoshi des" (I am a teacher). The students' faces took on a look of astonishment that Japanese was coming out of my mouth--it was like a monkey had begun to talk!

Here their teacher insisted on a picture so we asked him to take one with our camera. The boys don't look so thrilled.

Now the day gets weird. One reason we had travelled to Nara was to see a painting that was listed in our "1,001 Paintings to See Before You Die" book. It's called Kichijoten by an unknown artist and painted sometime before the 14th century. It's in a Nara temple, Yakushi-ji, which is quite a way off the beaten track. So outside of Nara Koen, we jumped in a taxi ("Kono takshi wa kushi des ka?"--new phrase of the day) for a long (and expensive) ride to Yakushi-ji. Like most temples, this was a huge complex of many buildings and we searched through all of them--no paintings at all! Yakushi-ji was, though, filled with worshipping people, including a group in one central building listening to a sermon from a Buddhist monk. Finally, searching through my phrase book, I figured out how to ask if there was a painting and added the name Kichijoten. "Ah," said the monk behind the counter of a small gift booth, "it's a 'secret' painting that is only shown once each year--in early January." That darn book sure leaves stuff out! But the monk did show us a poster which featured a reproduction of the painting. Bill insists that's good enough and counts for having "seen" it!

We were far from the central train station, but near a local one--a different line that purportedly went to Kyoto. So we got on that train, crossing our fingers and praying to the Great Buddha that we would actually see Kyoto again, and after a change made it back to Kyoto hungry and exhausted.

Right--we're doing too much. So today (my birthday, by the way), we are laying low, doing a little local shopping and checking out a painting in Myoshin-ji (local temple). For dinner we're trying a new restaurant with $$$$ next to it in the guidebook, which will take us to Pontocho, the geisha district. I've been watching a YouTube version of a BBC documentary called "Becoming a Geisha." It's fascinating--check it out.

Japan's oldest bell, cast in 698, hangs at Myoshin-ji and we often hear it peal the hours.