A visit to Nara

My Golden Week adventures continued on Wednesday with a day in Nara, Japan’s first imperial capital and the home of numerous temples and shrines. Like Kyoto in the north, Nara was only about an hour away from where I lived in Osaka, which was very convenient.  Plus, the trains were really comfy and there were spectacular views of the countryside.

Nara was definitely a welcome change to the constantly busy and crowded city of Osaka. With many forests and mountains, it was a very relaxing place to spend the day since I love being surrounded by nature.

This proves how tame the deers are

My time in Nara centred around Nara Park where there I saw many wild deers roaming around freely. They were so tame and cute that I wish I could have taken one home. There were many vendors who sold “shika sembei”, deer biscuits that visitors could hand-feed to the deers. They absolutely loved the attention from kids and adults. I was amazed that you  could just walk up to the deers and touch them. Naturally, most of them would only be interested in you if you had food. Of course, for safety reasons, there were signs in the park warning visitors that deers were capable of attacking people. My favourite was the “Knock down” (bottom right).

Deers are important animals in Nara, and have been protected since the 8th century. They were once regarded as heavenly messengers from the gods, but are now simply national treasures. Nara City even paid tribute to deers in their mascot, Sento-kun, who is a young boy resembling a Buddha with antlers.

Apart from the deers, the main attractions in the park were the temples and shrines. The first temple I went to was Todaiji Temple, located on the west side of Nara Park. Built in 752, this massive temple is one of Japan’s most famous temples and is the world’s largest wooden building even though it is about 33 per cent smaller than the original. On top of that, the temple is home to Japan’s largest bronze Buddha, the 15 metres high Daibutsu, (Great Buddha). At the entrance to the temple grounds was the large Nandaimon (Great South Gate) that contained statues of two sinister-looking Nio Guardian Kings.

Nigatsu-do Hall's verandah

Once leaving the temple, I followed a long path that led to smaller temples and shrines (with many deer sightings along the way). Nigatsu-do Hall is worth mentioning because the verandah provided a great view of Nara. It is also the location of Omizutori Matsuri (Water-Drawing Festival), a two-week religious festival held in March during which monks will run across the verandah with flaming torches and shower embers over spectators to cleanse them of their sin.

Eastern Golden Hall and the five storey pagoda

The next big temple I visited was Kofukuji Temple, which featured a Treasure House, several buildings, and a five storey pagoda, which is Japan’s second largest pagoda after Kyoto’s Toji Temple.  The Treasure House had a display of temple art as well as old and very tall statues of Buddha. Next door was the Eastern Golden Hall which contained a statue of the Yakushi Buddha. Both these buildings and another I didn’t go into required payment, and to be honest, they were really expensive.

Ema: wooden plaques for prayers and wishes

What I found very interesting about my trip to Nara was observing the role of religion in Japan. My local friend told me that the Japanese are not spiritual, but I would say religion still plays a part in their lives, especially when they are in a religious mecca like Nara or Kyoto, for example. There is no one religion in Japan, but rather, it is a blend of Shintoism and Buddhism and this is an obvious fact when you see that Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines are located within metres of each other. The Japanese will go to each one and do whatever they can to win the favour of their Shinto gods and/or the different Buddhist deities. Outside Shinto shrines, I saw a lot of wooden plaques called ema, which people would purchase to write their prayers or wishes. In the Buddhist temples, people would pay money to burn incense, ring a bell or say prayers to the statues. Religion is a big profitable business in Japan.