Nara
Took the train to Nara – the historical capital of Japan, to hunt out the world’s largest bronze sculpture of Buddha. Once there we made our way from the train station on foot through Nara-Koen park, having bought special biscuits from the street sellers along the way to feed the tame deer that roam there. Had an amazing time feeding the young deer and watching other people unfortunate enough to be carrying food being chased around and playfully head butted by the older ones. A real experience to be able to be so close to them.
Once at the Todai-ji temple, the first stop was Nandai-mon, an enormous entrance gate housing the two giant wooden sculptures of the Nio guardians. Then onto the Daibutsu-den Hall, the largest wooden building in the world and where we would find the 16 metre high Diabutsu (Great Buddha). Couldn’t believe our eyes when we walked into the temple to see it towering over us and sat looking up at it for ages as we tried to get our heads around the sheer scale.
Sat in the park eating yaki-soba noodles for lunch that we’d bought from a street vendor. Our entertainment was watching in amazement as one of the locals shared his lunch – literally - with a couple of deer that were begging for food. Wish I’d had the camera ready to capture him eating one end of a sausage as the deer ate the other!
Walked to the old town browsing the craft shops as we went, and couldn’t help giggling at the two Chihuahuas dressed in tiny demin skirts and T-shirts, that, it must be said, had better fashion sense than their owner.
On our way to Isuien Garden we came upon Neiraku Art Museum and had a wander around before moving on. Walking around the garden we noticed a sign for a personal tea ceremony so we followed the instruction to bang the piece of wood dangling from the tree with the wooden mallet to start proceedings. We were ushered into a wooden house and sat cross legged on the tatami matting before being served freshly made green tea and sugar sweets wrapped in tissue paper. Our hostess told us that the sweets were to be eaten as the tea was drunk to take away the bitterness, and she wasn’t wrong! Made from ground fresh tea leaves, it was nothing like I’d either seen or tasted before, but sat on the floor, looking out at the gardens across a pond full of carp through paper screens, there was no mistaking that we were in Japan.
On a tip from the tourist information clerk at the train station we made our way up a long steep hill and through parkland to Nigatsu-dō Hall to watch Shuni-e – a religious fire ceremony performed during the first part of March that by pure chance we were able to catch the last performance of. Chose a good spot on a grassy hillside as close to the temple as we could get and waited for two hours for a ceremony that we knew nothing about but had been told was spectacular and something we shouldn’t miss. The swelling crowd hinted that we were about to see something special and we weren’t disappointed.
As the last light faded, chanting began and the crowd began to get excited. Climbing the open staircase next to us was a monk carrying a long pole with a burning pine torch on the end. Once at the balcony of the temple the torch was swung out over the crowd as the monk ran the length of the balcony banging and twirling the torch to make sparks shower the audience (any onlooker showered in embers is thought to be blessed with good luck for the coming year). Over the next hour 12 monks made their way to the balcony.
Tired after a full day we walked back to the train station and fell asleep on board, only to wake up as the train pulled into Kyoto.
Once at the Todai-ji temple, the first stop was Nandai-mon, an enormous entrance gate housing the two giant wooden sculptures of the Nio guardians. Then onto the Daibutsu-den Hall, the largest wooden building in the world and where we would find the 16 metre high Diabutsu (Great Buddha). Couldn’t believe our eyes when we walked into the temple to see it towering over us and sat looking up at it for ages as we tried to get our heads around the sheer scale.
Sat in the park eating yaki-soba noodles for lunch that we’d bought from a street vendor. Our entertainment was watching in amazement as one of the locals shared his lunch – literally - with a couple of deer that were begging for food. Wish I’d had the camera ready to capture him eating one end of a sausage as the deer ate the other!
Walked to the old town browsing the craft shops as we went, and couldn’t help giggling at the two Chihuahuas dressed in tiny demin skirts and T-shirts, that, it must be said, had better fashion sense than their owner.
On our way to Isuien Garden we came upon Neiraku Art Museum and had a wander around before moving on. Walking around the garden we noticed a sign for a personal tea ceremony so we followed the instruction to bang the piece of wood dangling from the tree with the wooden mallet to start proceedings. We were ushered into a wooden house and sat cross legged on the tatami matting before being served freshly made green tea and sugar sweets wrapped in tissue paper. Our hostess told us that the sweets were to be eaten as the tea was drunk to take away the bitterness, and she wasn’t wrong! Made from ground fresh tea leaves, it was nothing like I’d either seen or tasted before, but sat on the floor, looking out at the gardens across a pond full of carp through paper screens, there was no mistaking that we were in Japan.
On a tip from the tourist information clerk at the train station we made our way up a long steep hill and through parkland to Nigatsu-dō Hall to watch Shuni-e – a religious fire ceremony performed during the first part of March that by pure chance we were able to catch the last performance of. Chose a good spot on a grassy hillside as close to the temple as we could get and waited for two hours for a ceremony that we knew nothing about but had been told was spectacular and something we shouldn’t miss. The swelling crowd hinted that we were about to see something special and we weren’t disappointed.
As the last light faded, chanting began and the crowd began to get excited. Climbing the open staircase next to us was a monk carrying a long pole with a burning pine torch on the end. Once at the balcony of the temple the torch was swung out over the crowd as the monk ran the length of the balcony banging and twirling the torch to make sparks shower the audience (any onlooker showered in embers is thought to be blessed with good luck for the coming year). Over the next hour 12 monks made their way to the balcony.
Tired after a full day we walked back to the train station and fell asleep on board, only to wake up as the train pulled into Kyoto.
posted by Paul Marden at
1:50 PM
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