804 Diana in the Deer Park in Nara, Japan
815 Diana & Great Buddha Hall, Todaiji Temple, Nara, Japan
830 Vairocana Buddha, Todaiji Temple, Nara, Japan
856 Buddha's Altar, Todaiji Temple, Nara, Japan
894 Stone Lanterns, Kasuga Taisha (Shinto) Shrine, Nara
913 Kasuga Taisha (Shinto) Shrine, Nara
969 Kondo, Oldest Wooden Structure, Horyuji Temple
Oct 7 – Kobe, Japan. Today we are leaving Kobe and driving to Nara, the first permanent capital of Japan, founded in 710AD. Prior to that the capital moved every time a new person came to power.
The drive to Nara was quite easy, not much traffic and it's only about 80 km. This is the middle day of a three-day weekend here. They were so proud of hosting the 1964 Olympics that they made it a national holiday. Japan has 15 national holidays per year and just like the USA they are usually busy traffic days. Not so today.
Our first stop is the Todaiji Temple. I don't think I mentioned it but temples in Japan are Buddhist and shrines are Shinto. The biggest attraction here is the Great Buddha Hall, the Daibutsu den, which houses the largest bronze Buddha in the world. (Yes it's another Daibutsu but much larger than the one in Kamakura. It represents the Vairocana Buddha, the Buddha that shines throughout the world like the sun, the central Buddha of the Kegon Sutra. The Buddha might be bronze underneath but it's plated in gold. It was consecrated in 752AD and has been repaired several times over the years.
It was constructed by the lost wax process. A wax carving was made that was encased in clay. The wax was melted out and the entire mold covered with soil in progressive layers from bottom to top. A furnace was moved up the mound to melt the bronze and pour it into the mold. After cooling the earth was removed along with the outer and inner layers of the mold.
The temple complex is in the middle of Deer Park. That's not the real name but it's what the locals call it. The local deer are protected and live in the mountains surrounding the city. The have been coming down to the park for over 1,200 years during the day and retreating to the mountains in the evening. They are fairly tame, maybe too much so. They sell biscuits to feed them but you have to be careful. The deer are observant and if you buy the biscuits they immediately start to pester you.
They bump you and if you ignore that they start to nip at your shirt and pants. They will try to steal the entire pack of biscuits if you are not careful with it. I decided to feed only the polite ones and ignore the aggressive. That worked pretty well but it proved to be somewhat to get away from the pushier deer. Once you get away from the herd at the entrance it gets better. Both Diana and I had a good time feeding the laid-back deer further in the park.
After about a third of a mile walk you encounter the outer gate of the temple grounds with its attendant stairs. It is flanked inside by two temple door guardians housed inside the gate. As with all gates to Buddhist temple precincts there's a step up and a sill to cross to get in. The theory is that evil spirits are too stupid to get over the sill and thus cannot enter the grounds.
After a very pleasant walk past a modern show hall and later a landscaped lake you arrive at the gate of the Great Buddha Hall with its associated washing station. After climbing the stairs and crossing the sill you are in the courtyard of the hall, a large grassy area surrounded by a covered walkway. Just inside there's a stand where you can purchase and light an incense stick. After lighting the incense you fan it toward your face with your hands to insure you will be prepared to meet the Buddha.
I'm sorry but I'm writing this after lunch in the Lido Restaurant and a man just walked by in a t-shirt that made me laugh. It says, "If a man speaks in a forest where there's no woman to hear, is he still wrong?" I always appreciate it when someone writes a parody of a philosophical conundrum. That one was just too rich with implication for both parties.
The Great Buddha Hall has stairs and a sill of its own just in case some sneaky evil spirit has made it inside the courtyard through the previous two gates. The building is 160 feet in height and a little over 160 feet in length and width, just slightly rectangular. Just to the right of the main entrance is a wood carving of Binzuru (Pindola Bharadvāja) from the Edo Period (1700s). He was one of the 16 arahats of Buddha and is said to have healing powers. In Japan, they believe that if you rub the statue and then rub a part of your body that has problems the problems will disappear.
Inside the main door you are immediately confronted, by the Vairocana Buddha, seated with his right hand up, palm out and his left hand palm up in his lap. He is seated in a lotus flower. Each lotus petal is engraved with a fine line etching that represents the world view presented in the Kegon-kyo, the writings of the Kegon sutra of Buddhism. Heaven and its organization is pictured on the top half of the petal and earth and its relationships on the bottom. There's an altar in front of him that has offerings of oranges, summer melon, something in silver wrapped boxes stacked in a pyramid and bouquets flowers. The Great Buddha is 49 feet high; the head alone is 18 feet long. The lotus petals surrounding him are 10 feet high. He is flanked by two other figures, Kokuuzo-bosatsu and Nyoirin-kannon. I don't know anything about these two figures so I'll have to wait until I get home to do some research. All I know about kannon I wrote about in Kamakura.
Proceeding clockwise around the Buddha there were several other large wooden statues and model a model of the temple are made in 1912 using ancient plans and copies of documents. It clearly shows a significantly larger hall with flanking, five level pagodas on the east and west.
One of the large pillars supporting the structure has a square hole through it about 5 inches off the floor. The hole looks to be about a foot on each side. It's said that if you can squeeze through the hole you will be granted a wish. I saw lots of children go through but one adult, a man in his early 30s. None of the denizens of Amsterdam were even willing to consider it, especially yours truly.
Our next destination is the Kasuga Taisha (Shinto) Shrine. As I mentioned before the Japanese view Shino as the religion for the living and that is evident on this holiday weekend. Back when the infant mortality rate was high the culture developed the traditions of celebrating a child's birth as well as third and fifth birthdays at a Shinto shrine. This tradition continues today and we saw many families celebrating here. The mothers, children and grandmothers are dressed in fine silk kimonos, the husbands and grandfathers in black suits. I love the color schemes and designs on the kimonos, so subtle and beautiful. Some of them combine colors that are a little unconventional to my taste but the final effect is stunning.
We also saw a bride and groom having wedding photos taken. The bride was wearing the traditional white kimono with a large white hat covering her ornate hairdo. Japanese tradition says that a wife gets very jealous leading up to her wedding and that the hat is to cover the 'horns of jealousy'. She did remove her hat for some photos. Her hair appeared to be lacquered into an ornate style with what appeared to be ivory combs and flowers set in it. One device that looked like a wishbone was inserted behind her head protruding upward to keep the hat from riding down onto her hair and the inserts. The kimono was embroidered white on white with cranes in flight and several types of flowers. Subtle in the extreme and absolutely gorgeous!
The husband was dressed in a formal kimono that hasn't changed much in style since the Edo Period (1600s to mid-1800s). Striped black and grey pantaloons, black and white wrap around shirt and black knee length kimono jacket. All this is accented by a white, rope-like, beltline-length rope with a ball and tassel attached. Probably has some significance but I sure don't know what that is.
We saw the wedding party up at the main shrine but we saw the children celebrants starting right in the parking lot.
The first thing we passed was the storage shed for the booze offerings. There are many large cloth wrapped sake barrels and cases of beer. The donors are mostly the brewers who consider it good advertising for their product to be seen at the shrine, especially one of this importance. I saw several barrels from the Hakutsuru Sake Brewery we visited in Kobe.
The path up to the shrine is lined with tall stone lanterns of various sizes, about 3.000 of them. Most appear to be between 4-6 feet tall although some are larger. They have signed paper screens around the oil lamp that indicate the family that sponsored the lamp for that year. Many are hundreds of years old with quite a garden of moss growing on them, others are newer, only 60 years old, and haven't yet acquired the aging patina.
We went to a smaller shrine (Wakamiya-jinja) first; dedicated to Honden it was built in 1135AD. The doors of the Shinto shrine buildings are usually closed unless there's a festival underway concerning the honoree. Around this shrine were several small structures with large wooden hearts hung all over them. These hearts have large white spaces on the so that the purchaser can write a wish or other note for everyone to read. Everyone who can read Japanese writing, that is.
We then walked down another lantern lined pathway to the main shrine, Kasuga. It's dedicated to three gods and one goddess of the Shinto system. Remember Shintoism is the Japanese religious system for sadness and death. Funerals and other sad occasions are conducted here. Unlike the weddings and birthdays celebrated at the Buddhist temple we visited earlier.
We ate lunch at the Hotel Fujita in downtown Nara. It was a good lunch but very western, sad to say. If I could eat Japanese portions all the time I'd sure lose weight. The food is tasty but not at all western size servings. I guess that's a good thing.
After lunch we headed to the eastern suburbs of Nara to visit the Horyuji Temple, the oldest temple in Japan. This temple and its grounds were the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Japan. It has the oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world. Some of them are over 1,300 years old.
The five-story pagoda has four scenes from the life of Buddha in the four doors of its bottom floor. Many of the clay figures in the scenes date from 711AD. One scene is of nirvana featuring a reclining Buddha surrounded by acolytes and worshipers.
The museum on the grounds has many works of art from the Asuka Period, 552-645AD. This temple was founded in 601AD and is the beginning of Buddhism in Japan. It was founded over 600 years before earliest sites at Kamakura that we visited when we were in Yokohama. Amazing!
The Kondō (main hall) is the oldest building in the world. Built in the Asuka period it is over 1,400 years old. Inside are bronze statues of the Shaka triad, a typical presentation of the Asuka period.
After another long day of tromping around Japan we returned to the ship and opted for the informal dinner at the Lido restaurant. Diana turned in early, about 7:30pm. I opted for the sea day double header. I saw 1957s Stopover Tokyo, a spy mystery staring a very young Robert Wagner (the junior spy), Edmond O'Brien (the villain) and a gorgeous Joan Collins as the junior spy's love interest. Although Edmond O'Brien's nationality is never mentioned I'm pretty sure at the time most people assumed he was a Soviet assassin.
The entertainer was Peter Neighbor a clarinetist. We'd seen him before and he's very good with swing era big band and jazz music. He did step a little out of type and play some Antonio Carlos Jobin, but not by much. A very good but tiring day. Thankful for a day at sea tomorrow.
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