5/15/24: A Great Day Trip to Nara & its Wild Deer!

After a delightful week exploring Kyoto, Steven and I took the train just 26 miles south for a day trip to Japan's ancient capital of Nara before moving on about the same distance east to Osaka where we rested our heads for three nights. In the country's early history, its capital was moved to a new location each time a new emperor ascended the throne. But Nara became the first 'permanent' capital when it was established in 710 until that honor was usurped first by Nagaoko 74 years later and then shortly by Kyoto for the next 1,000 years. 

In those 74 years, however, the birth of the country's literature, arts, and crafts took place as Nara imported everything from art to religion to architecture from China. The Chinese concepts for the city's rectangular grid pattern were also adhered to. The Nara Period also saw Japan's first historical account, the first poetry anthology, and the first mythological chronicle written. Nara also evolved as the country's cultural and political center with pagodas, shrines, temples, and palaces. 

One of Nara's big lures is its large population of freely roaming sika deer at the open Nara Park just north of the train station where we easily stored our luggage for the day. We bought some deer food rice crackers for 200 yen (~$1.25) from a vendor who immediately insisted we move away because he didn't want the deer consuming all his wares! There was no concern that Nara's deer would waste away as there were plenty of people feeding them. 

Naively, I thought it'd be so cute to feed the deer but they were very aggressive, trying to munch on the jacket around my waist and then taking a chunk of my Nara information sheet before I snatched both away from their mouths! That didn't deter them much as they still followed us for a while.

Considered the messengers of the gods in Shinto belief, Nara's deer have become a symbol of the city and have even been designated as a Natural Treasure. According to a legend, in 768, the first of the four gods of Kasugataisha Shrine was invited to Nara from Kashima in Ibaraki Prefecture just north of Tokyo. After the deity traveled all the way to Mt. Mikasa on a white deer, deer were considered sacred, and killing one was punishable by death. After WW II, the deer were officially stripped of their sacred status, but are still protected in Nara.

The park is synonymous with what many think of as the city of Nara. Stretching over about eight square kilometers, it encompasses major religious sites, museums, and almost 1,200 deer. As a result, the park is a famous landmark for locals and tourists alike. The areas near the park's entrances were the most crowded but we discovered just by walking further into the park we had entire areas (and deer!) largely to ourselves.

One of the temples in Nara Park was Kofuku-ji Temple, established in 710 as the family temple of the Fujiwaras, the second-most powerful clan after the imperial family from the 8th to the 12th centuries. Having once as many as 175 buildings on the temple grounds, it held significant political and religious power until the 16th century through centuries of civil wars and fires.

When the Kofuku-ji National Treasure Hall opened in 1959, it was the first building in Japan to display works of art in the vicinity of a temple and not in the temple itself. Depending on my research for this post, many of the statutes were either originally in the Western Golden Hall, the temple refectory, and/or the entrance hall. I am unclear which buildings were torn down in 1874 at the height of the anti-Buddhist persecutions in the early Meiji Period 1868-1912, or were destroyed by fire four times, most recently in 1717.

The series of fantastical statues from Indian mythology dates from 734, an early period in Japanese Buddhist art. The collection included amazingly life-like figures by master carver Unkei and his sons. Incredibly and fortunately, they survived due to the hollow-core dry lacquer technique they were created from. A lacquer-soaked fabric was layered onto a clay core that was removed after the lacquer hardened. The hollow core was then reinforced with a light wooden frame to prevent warping, and facial features and other details were modeled using a lacquer and sawdust paste before the image was painted and gilded.

The centerpiece was the 13th-century thousand-armed Kannon that had been located in the temple refectory.

The sublime, seated Shaka Nyorai dated to 734.

Two exquisite images of the Ten Great Disciples from the Nara Period, 710-794: I loved how each image had different facial expressions and hand gestures and portrayed Buddhist monks of varying ages with older ones having more wrinkles (like me!) and greater number of folds in their clothes. 

The relief carvings of the Twelve Heavenly Generals date to the 11th century and are considered masterpieces of itabori wooden relief carvings. Though often depicted with fierce, angry faces, these generals are famous for their humorous expressions and the sense of depth their sculptors used to convey using just 3cm thick Japanese cypress boards. Again, each had a different pose, with some so exaggerated they reminded me of kabuki actors, and others in a more static manner reminiscent of religious icons.

I saved the best for last! One of the most famous of the National Treasures in the museum was the standing, multi-armed 8th-century Ashura, one of the eight guardian deity figures commissioned by Empress Komyo 1,000 years ago. This Ashura, one of the oldest dry lacquer statues in Japan, had its six unusually slender arms wrapped with thin ribbons. 

I had no idea the statue had become a huge hit in Japan and even has its own fan club. There was a small “Ashura-boom” some time ago in Japan as a result of the success of the Kokuho Ashura or National Treasure Ashura Exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum which centered on the statue of the mythological Ashura of Kohfuku-ji. It became the most attended museum exhibition in the world with over 1.65 million people coming to see Ashura and the other statues! We were so fortunate that the crowds in Nara were negligible in comparison.

Beyond the Treasure Hall was Kofuk-ji Temple's five-story pagoda which was built in 1426 after its predecessors burned down. The 50m tall building, the second-tallest in Japan, is an exact replica of the original. It was closed for restoration when we visited. 

The temple's Southern Round Hall:

The Eastern Golden Hall was originally constructed in 726 by Emperor Shomu to speed the recovery of his ailing wife. It's now worshipped by scholar monks and students wanting to pass university entrance exams.

Considered the most important building in the complex was the massive Central Golden Hall which reopened in 2018 after 18 years of renovation! We decided not to visit it as we still had other sights in Nara to visit.

Walking back through more deserted sections of Nara Park with far more docile deer: 

We had to pull the deer-proof gate closed before entering the Yoshik-en Garden to view its teahouse and the moss garden.

The approach to Todai-ji Temple, billed as Nara's premier attraction for Japan's second-largest bronze Buddha, was lined with cafes and souvenir stores, as well as rickshaw drivers eager to take people for a ride. Many more deer also greeted the masses of visitors. Some had even been trained to bow for the rice crackers!

When Emperor Shomu ordered the construction of the Great Buddha or Daibutsu in the mid-700s, his plan was to make Toda-ji the headquarters of all Buddhist temples in the land. This Daibutsu was a remarkable work of art that took eight castings and was part of Shomu's master plan to make a Buddhist utopia.

However, the wooden building housing the Great Buddha, the Daibutsuden, burned twice during wars which melted Buddha's head. The current Daibutsuden dates from 1709 and, though it measures 48m tall, 57m long, and 50m wide, and is the largest wooden structure in the world, it is still only two-thirds its original size!

Many people believe that if you rub part of the Binzaru image and then the same part on your own body, the ailment will disappear. Steven tried it on his sore legs caused by his bad back and I on my leg but no luck.

The pièce de résistance: The dazzling Daibutsu was created with 437 tons of bronze, 286 pounds of pure gold, 165 pounds of mercury, and 7 tons of vegetable wax at a height of more than 15m. However, due to Japan's frequent natural disasters, the Great Buddha of today is far different. The statue lost its head in a huge earthquake in 855 and was repaired six years later before melting in subsequent wars. The current head dates from 1692.

Stupendous statues galore surrounded the Great Buddha.

Behind the Great Buddha was a reconstruction of the original Toda-ji Temple area. It was done on a scale of 1:50 by a group of specialists led by a doctor of engineering from 1912-26 based on old documents. The previous complex was flanked by two massive pagodas that reached a height of 100m.

A huge wooden column had a small in it near the ground that, according to popular belief, led to enlightenment if you could only manage to crawl through it. It was great fun watching several people make their way through, especially since merriment isn't normally an emotion associated with temple viewing! It reminded us of a similar experience visiting a temple that catered to the lovelorn in Kyoto! 

The Great Buddha from another angle after walking around the huge Daibutsuden and viewing the many guardians:

The On Asoka Pillar was built in 1988 after a service, organized by the All Japan Young Buddhist Association, was attended by more than 1,700 priests of different Buddhist sects from all over the country. They made a vow "to contribute to the salvation of suffering people, human welfare, and world peace."

While still in Nara Park, we trekked through the Kasugayama Primeval Forest protected since the 9th century to Kasuga Taisha Shrine. A hungry deer joined us for a bit!

A staggering 3,000 stone and bronze lanterns led the way to and from the shrine. Imagine being there in mid-August or the beginning of February when all are lit!

The Shinto shrine was originally the guardian shrine of the powerful Fujiwara family and was founded in 768. According to Shinto beliefs of purity, it was torn down and rebuilt every 20 years in its original form! The most recent version is from 2015-16. As nearly all empresses hailed from the Fujiwara family, its shrine benefited from a close relationship with the imperial family.

Different gates, similar in scale to each other, were used for the Fujiwara family, for monks, and for naishi or female priests.

The Shinto ema or wooden wishing tablets at Toda-ji were deer-shaped, of course! Since ancient times, people of all ages have been writing their wishes on ema and offering them to the deities. You might remember many pictures of ema from the temples in Kyoto. 

Remarkably, these lanterns were all different. I don't know whether that was the case for the other 2,990 or so!

The further we got from the main shrine, the more peaceful it was. What a relief to get away from the large crowds of people.

This camphor tree was one of the largest in the prefecture and might have been a connate tree of three different saplings. 

A small Toda-ji sub-shrine deep in the forest:

The biggest stone lanterns so far:

When the Kasuga Shrine's Man'yo Botanical Garden opened in 1932, it was the only garden of its kind in the country. Since then, the garden has doubled in size and now displays approximately 270 kinds of plants described in the poems of Man'yo-shu, the country's oldest anthology. Compiled in the 8th century, Man'yo includes about 4,500 long and short poems composed by people in all classes from emperors to farmers between the 5th and 8th centuries. Poems were written about nature, clothing, food, housing, love, and death. 

Of the 4,500 poems in Man'yo-shu, 1,500 described grasses, trees, and flowers found in Japan since ancient times. Those plants were called Man'yo plants. The garden was divided into five zones.

Ichigashi were gigantic trees with over three-meter-round trunk circumferences that were designated as a Nara City Cultural Monument. One, looking like a dragon, was on the holy island in the center of the pond. It was once blown down by a heavy wind but it regrew. Its strong power to stay alive makes people hold a mysterious charm for nature.

Poems from the Man'yo-shu were written by many plants. 

We stopped next for tea at the delightful Nara Hotel, a five-star hotel located on the hillside overlooking Nara Park. Opened on October 17, 1909, it is one of the most historic hotels in Japan.

Deer and deer lanterns guided our entrance to the hotel.

The list of illustrious guests who stayed at the hotel included crowned and uncrowned heads of state, members of royal families, heads of government, politicians, actors, and artists. You'll recognize the following notable persons: Charles Lindbergh in 1931, Charlie Chaplin in 1936, Helen Keller in 1937, Richard Nixon in 1953, Joe DiMaggio in 1954, (Marilyn Monroe canceled her reservation!), but probably not Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in 1961 - a nod to my Canadian heritage!

The view from the tea lounge:

For you, Janina: 

Still more of Nara Park with the Nara Hotel in the background:

I only included this photo as it was the first mural we saw in all of Japan!

The walk back to the Nara train station took us through some of the 'real Nara' before our one-hour ride to Osaka, our next stop on the journey.

Nara was a great pitstop for us en route to Osaka as we really got a kick out of seeing all the deer roaming around, were gobsmacked viewing the treasures at the National Treasure Hall, the monumental Great Buddha, the attractive gardens, and the hike through the forest to the thousands of lanterns.

Next post: Osaka's Museum of Oriental Ceramics and more!

Posted on July 17th, 2024 from our home in Colorado a day after hearing the thrilling news of the birth of our grandson and fifth grandchild in San Francisco! Wishing you and your loved ones peace and joy.