The next day, a pretty cloudy and rainy Friday, we thought it would be better to travel to Nara, Japan's first capital, home to many temples, a great Buddha and lots of tame (hungry) deer.
Nara was only 15min by train from Kyoto and there are loads to see and walk. Despite the rain, visitors flocked to avoid little round deer poo on the ground and feed deer while on the way to the sights.
I have mostly admired the big Todai-ji that host the great bronze Buddha. The main gate is very large and host frightening giant guards.
The long boulevard to the temple was layered with shiny water to show the way, while the flowers and yellow grass tried to add some colours tot he gray sky.
Looking up before entering the great hall, there are intricate patterns of wood holding the ceiling, and the columns holing the doors.
The hall inside was again very vast and impressive, and made of wood only. It is a great sight, humbling but also a pride to the carpenters and artisans that worked on the structures. The temple was burned and reconstructed several times.
And of course the great statue that looked so simply elegant and serene.
I would love to have a lego architecture of Todai-ji. That would be so interesting to build.
I was told back in 2009 that this was the biggest bronze Buddha in the world. Todaiji also is important to the Japanese as it is the main temple for Japanese Buddhism. Apparently the current construction is about 30% smaller than the original, so it was much bigger before.
Lots of schoolchildren were taking the challenge of going through a small hole in one of the great wood pillars in the hall. They were surely praying for a good school year or success in some exams. I could not humble myself to try as public embarrassment was too high a price for enlightenment.
The weather was not very encouraging so we decided to go back to Kyoto, taking the well used stairs in Nara station. I found this was a good idea to use as advertising the city sights.
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