Nara

Since I last posted much has occurred in my epic journey through the wilds of Japan. And by epic journey I mean frantic studying and stuttering attempts at Japanese! This weekend most of the students at JCMU (myself included) took a field trip to the town of Nara, which is the capital of the Nara prefecture. The journey started at 7:50am when the bus left JCMU. It took us roughly 3 hours to reach the city. As soon as we exited the bus we saw one of the attractions that Nara is famous for: the 鹿 (shika), known in English as deer. The deer in Nara wander freely around a large part of the town and are very friendly. They were very adorable, but also slightly intimidating. You were fine if you just wanted to pet the deer and coo over their adorableness, but once you bought some deer crackers from the vendors within the park you were a target for deer nudges and nibbles.


After walking through the park we ventured up to the enormous Buddhist temple, Todai-ji. The temple is the largest wooden building in the world and it holds the worlds largest statue of the Buddha Vairocana, who the Japanese call 大仏 (Daibutsu). The statue was magnificent! I cannot fathom how the Japanese managed to construct this amazing building and statue with the tools and resources of 752 C.E.; it must have been some Japanese brand of magic! The statue is almost 15 meters tall (almost 50 ft, for those of you not using metric). A pillar in the temple has a hole in it the size of 大仏's nostril and I was able to climb through it. Nuff said. Pictures cannot capture this statue, you have to see it in person. I highly recommend EVERY ONE OF YOU to go to Japan and visit this statue. You've heard it from me.

Before heading back to JCMU we stopped at another temple, Kōfuku-ji. This temple was founded in 669 C.E. and contains many beautiful sacred treasures of Buddhism. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the temple, as we saw from signs posted on signs posted every 10 feet. This didn't stop some people from taking pictures, but overall it was a very quiet and somber temple. The art was gorgeous and fascinating, as was all of the architecture. The five tiered pagoda impressed me most of all. Also impressive was the statue of the Yakushi Nyorai Buddha inside the East Golden Hall. The Buddha is a National Treasure, and it is easy to tell why.(By the way, this picture was taken from Wikipedia, so props to them.)


We headed back to JCMU more tired and slightly nibbled on by deer, but overall it was a pretty amazing day. Hopefully I will get to see more historic sites while I am staying in Japan. Due to three national holidays in a row, next weekend is going to be five days long. As a result of this I am travelling up to Tokyo with some friends to explore the city. I can't wait to report on my adventures there!!

In unrelated news, I am going to live up to my promise and attempt to cook an omelette tonight. I will document the experience and report back my success or failure. Here's hoping my food is edible!