Nara and Hanabi

Yesterday I went to Nara, the ancient capital of Japan, where Buddhism was first introduced from Korea. Nara is famous for its many temples and shrines, several of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites, and for the deer that roam the historical parts of the city.


This temple is Gangoji, the first Buddhist temple in Japan. It was created with the expertise of Buddhist architects, carpenters, and sculptors sent by the Paekche Kingdom in Korea. Word up!



I was really impressed by the Buddhist sculptures at Kohfukuji. While I was drawing a giant guardian head, one of the security guards stopped me, telling me that there was no photos or sketching allowed and pointing to a sign. Actually, the sign said 'no picture, no photo'. I thought that was quite ridiculous since I was just quietly looking at the sculptures like anyone else. I trid to reason with him, saying, in between glances at my dictionary, that artists ought to be able to study such exceptional artifacts, but the result of my piecemeal diatribe was that he just kept saying 'rule, rule!' He was a friendly guy, and was just doing his job, so I let it go. But before I left the grounds, I snuck back in and snapped a shot of the main Buddha.


Alright, alright. This is what you want to see, so let's get it over with. There are tons of these deer roaming around the historic sites. I think they mostly eat the grass in the parks, but you can buy these biscuits to feed them that they go crazy for. It was quite entertaining to see the tourists buy the biscuits and then get mobbed by the deer. You get five in a pack, and people would start by giving them one by one, but by the end they would just throw the biscuits at the deer and run away. Magical creatures, those deer. Here's a video of them attacking a pile of cups:




This guy was a real warrior, so I had to give him a shoutout.


As far as scale goes, temples in Japan range from small to large to outrageous, and then there is Todaiji. Monuments like this make me think what an awesome force humanity can be.


Housed inside is the most colossal bronze Buddha I have ever seen. This guy could bring down an aircraft carrier with one good sit. I've been praying at every temple or shrine that I've come across, and haven't usually been throwing any money into the wooden slats that are in front of each altar, but this guy was so big that I had to throw him 101 yen.


As if he wasn't enough, to each of his sides are these guys, in case the big guy is too busy dealing with mortals like myself.



And then to top it all off, behind those three, are these two giant guardians. I think the one with the brush is my personal guardian saint. He is BAD-ASS—my favorite statue so far. This is the first of these guardians I can remember having come across in Japan that holds a creative instrument rather than a weapon.


Todaiji also had a pair of guardian heads on display, like the ones I was trying to draw at Kohfukuji. They always come in pairs; often one has his mouth closed, and the other has his open.



Finally, at the front gate, are these guys. I saw them last because I rode into the main complex on the bike that I rented. It was raining all day and I was soaked. But these guys were so gangster that they made the trip worth it.



The train back to Kyoto was filled with kids, parents, and couples, some of them dressed in kimonos. I thought maybe they were coming back from a festival like the one I saw in Matsumoto, but then they all got off at this stop called Uji. So I hopped off the train and found out from one of the policemen that were on duty at the station where they were going that there was going to be fireworks that night. I followed the stream of people to the banks of a river packed with thousands of folks sitting on the ground. I found myself a spot that was not taken because there was a big weed that I stamped to the ground. It was a bit of a wait, but the hanabi turned out to be spectacular.