Monday, August 6, 2012

Nara Tuesday 2008



December 9, 2008 - Tuesday - Nara

This may well be the last of these logs. Tomorrow I move back to Tokyo to get near the airport and the following morning fly home.

Mostly pictures today – ending with one of a crane – one of the happy/good luck creatures here in Japan – as at home.

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Today I took a local train to Nara – about 25 miles outside Kyoto. Nara was the capital of Japan from 710-784 AD. That would be while Vikings were still sacking England and before Charlemagne was crowned in 800.

The big attraction in Nara is the huge statue of Buddha inside the largest wooden building in the world. Buddha’s ears alone are 8’ tall. He’s cast out of bronze.

There is a cluster of temple here in the park, but Toadaiji is lead temple for Buddhism in Japan. Like at all these sites there are outdoor altars – often with flowing water you can drink and incense burners all around. This font had a dragon spigot. Yesterday at Fushimi-Inari I saw a woman take one of these long handled cups and use it to throw water at a small Buddha statue. She really soaked him and seemed to get great pleasure doing it.



Messages/prayers left on altar – see above and below





Incense burner. That’s my incense - stick third from the right.



A demon get his due from a temple guardian of Kofukuji Temple.



Toadaiji . Building housing Buddha is called Daibutsuden



Buddha statue inside. “ The Great Buddha was finally dedicated in 752 with ... The emperor and his family were present for the occasion, as were hundreds of local monks and ambassadors from China, India and more distant places… The statue was dedicated by ‘opening his eyes’ — an Indian priest stood on a specially built platform and painted in the eyes using a brush.” Strands of string were tied to the brush and the ends held by the emperor and other dignitaries. I read guests came from as far as Afghanistan for the event.







A lion-dog, Shishi, is a protector of the temple, as are the deer.
(Shishi photo taken with special permission of Nara National Museum )




Deer roam here undisturbed and unperturbed. I never heard a deer cry until today.

Finally a crane ( and I ) standing in the rain at Sarusawa-ike.





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