Nara

Our second day in Kyoto actually takes us out of the city to Nara - briefly the capital of Japan for 80 years before Kyoto gained that title. Just north of the city is a large park and forested area where several temples can be found  - as well as a great many ‘wild’ sika deer. 

The deer - just like the ones on Miyajima - are everywhere, mingling with the crowds, jostling in the hope of getting food, usually in the form of ‘deer crackers’ that are sold by vendors along the way. Apparently, these deer were once sacred with harsh punishments for anyone harming them. The attitude seems to have continued with far too many deer for the land to support. Without being fed by visitors they wouldn’t survive. 

The big draw here is Todai -Ji, the temple housing the ‘Great Buddha’. The dimensions of this wooden building are huge - even the gate is vast and it’s hard to imagine just what trees could have produced these building materials. Inside there is a replica of one of the roof ‘shibi’ - gold decorative tiles - which is over 3 metres tall and weighs 1.7 tons. The building is simply awe inspiring, as is the Great Buddha statue itself and we join the other visitors circling the statue. 

https://narashikanko.or.jp/en/feature/daibutsu/

 Leaving behind Todai-Ji, we walk up through the woods to explore some of the other temples. It’s very easy to get ‘templed out’ in Kyoto - or Nara - each temple having similarities but also their own particular identities.

First, we come to Nigarsu-Do, but seeing the number of steps we decide to admire it from a distance. I’m coping well with walking - I dread to think how I’d have coped without my back operation last summer - but my chest is very congested and my cough hasn’t improved, so I get very breathless. 

Then there’s Kasuga Taisha - a temple we didn’t actually plan to visit, but one of our favourites. The crowds of Jodi-ji have thinned out considerably, and we almost have this special place to ourselves. Run by female priests dressed in red and white with quite elaborate headdresses - this is a temple of lanterns. Stone lanterns are a common feature of all Japanese temples and gardens, but here they are everywhere,  line after line, row after row. We pay an entrance fee and follow a route inside the temple where there are even more - this time metal ones; glimmering gold, verdegried bronze, painted wood. During festivals they are lit and what a magical sight this must be - and to give us some small indication of just how beautiful, there is a darkened room we can walk through with an array of illuminated lanterns. Magical. 

We make our way back down the hill just as a large group is making its way in the opposite direction; we’re so pleased to have had Kasuga Taisha almost to ourselves. 

Our walk to the station turns out to be a rather longer walk than expected as we’ve taken a different exit.  We have a specific train to catch, so it’s something of a rush, but we make it! We’re getting pretty confident with Kyoto’s public transport system by now, and from the station take a subway train back to the area we’re staying in - though once again, the walk is longer than we’d anticipated and we decide the bus provides a better option in the future! 


To give you a bit of a break from temples, my main today is one of the sika deer - aren’t those eyelashes amazing? Then in extras there are three collages of the three different temples. Firstly, there’s Kasuga Taisha with its lanterns, then Todai-ji, and finally, if I’m honest, probably a mixture of all three!