My interest in Nara actually started last semester during my East Asian culture introductory course at Valpo. I knew Tokyo was the Capital of Japan, and if you look at the way the land is laid out, this makes perfect sense.
Now the largest city in the world, Tokyo sprawls across the Kanto plain on the central Honshu island of Japan. It, like all major cities in Japan, also has a port harbor. Japan is roughly 70% mountainous terrain, and the Japanese have done a great job of not pressing into the mountains to build houses. I am a little surprised; I half-expected to see San Francisco-esque houses perched precariously on cliff edges and mountain sides, but this is not the case. That 70% of Japan remains, for the most part, uninhabited. The 30% of flat land in Japan can be found mostly in the Kanto Plain, which explains why Tokyo is where it is and how it got to be so large: most of the population lives here. The first image is to give the reader an idea of the topography of Japan. The circled area is the Honshu Plain where Tokyo is located.
This second image is a close up of the Honshu plain (Red Circle). Notice how the area looks gray compared to the mountains? The reason for the grayness is that that is all buildings and man-made structures; that entire gray area is the city of Tokyo, which spans nearly 100 miles in any direction. Kind of hard to wrap your head around.
So what am I getting at with this geography lesson? While Tokyo happens to seem the perfect location for a capital city, it is, in fact, not the first capital Japan had. Or the second. Or the third, for that matter. There were a lot of capitals before Tokyo. In fact, 1300 years ago this year, Nara celebrated its stint as the Capital of Japan. Needless to say, there is a LOT of history to this place.
I knew all this before I went to Nara, and still, I had no idea what to expect from the place. Just the day before, my otosan had purchased his brand new car, so he was very eager to take it for a spin. The drive to Nara was only about an hour or so, so it was relatively close. After driving over a small range of mountains (good hiking and picnicking I am told) the land opened up and Nara prefecture lay before us. Interestingly, the minute we left Osaka prefecture and entered Nara , I saw a drastic change. Everything seemed older. Bustling, urban streets and bedroom communities gave way to fields and old wooden houses. I saw open space, the most I had seem since coming to Japan. I tried to speculate if this was an intentional attempt to preserve the way the land was back when Nara had ruled supreme, or if the mountain range I had just crossed really had served as such a successful insulator through the 21st century. I don't really know. The city of Nara did develop as we drove into it, buildings cropped up, and streets became multiple lanes. However, everything had a lazy feel to it. The sidewalks were wider, the cars moved slower, there were more plants here, and you could see to open sky. Downtown Nara was different from downtown Osaka, I was sure of this.
And then, next to the highway, a deer appeared. And then ten more appeared. Traffic breezed passed, seemingly unaware of their presence, and I began to see signs warning about deer. On my right side, the city fell away and a large, large, large park began to open up. Twice in one day, I had seen the most wide open space in Japan. This space was called Nara Park. Nara park had been preserved since its time as the capital. No structures had been built in the ~1,400 acre park, only the original buildings had been maintained, along with some restrooms, of course.
We began our trip into the park along a main walkway, where deer-cracker vendors were surrounded by vulture-deer waiting to pounce on any poor soul who chose to purchase the crackers. For some reason beyond my understanding, the deer would never harass the actual vendor, who had crackers within reach of the deer. They would only strike after someone else had bought the crackers. I think it is appropriate now to show the result of buying deer crackers.
After moving on, I found myself on a long pathway FILLED with people. The walkway was open, with few trees, and it led straight to and through several massive, wooden structures. This is the walkway to Todaiji Temple. I wondered at the architectural though process behind this long walkway. It certainly created a sense of mounting anticipation. When will I finally reach the temple? Each archway on the path there seemed more magnificent than the next, misleading you, making you think that it was the main attraction. My anticipation was prolonged even more when 5 separate middle school students stopped me (clearly foreign) to practice their English and ask me questions about my likes, dislikes, pets, why I came to Japan, etc, all for their English class projects. I must have heard the phrase ,"Excuse me, do you have time?" nearly 8 times. The students were all relieved when I answered their questions in Japanese and then explained their meaning in English to them. I tried to take the time to help them write the proper responses down and give them good information. It's what I would want if I were trying to get a cross-section of the American lifestyle polled correctly.
"Is this Todaiji Temple?"
"No... not yet."
"Ok."
Finally, after a long trip down the pathway full of people and deer and middle school students, we reached the entryway to Todaiji Temple. Todaiji is the largest wooden structure in the world. Wow. It was very overwhelming in size alone. It was also ornate, of course, and I was excited to get closer. Before entering the courtyard, my host family and myself stopped to light some incense. Incense, when wafted up to the crown of the head increases intelligence and also acts as a symbol of good luck. Of course, I burned my hand and dropped my incense; probably a symbol of my imminent doom.
Todaiji was massive. Outside, I made sure to take plenty of photographs. I took a video of me entering the temple as well. Here I am going up the steps and into the temple. The minute you step in and your eyes adjust to the light, you realize that there is a GIANT Buddha staring you down. He is made of cast iron, and everything else surrounding him is equally as gigantic. It must have been difficult to construct in the 700s. After seeing a hole in the temple where the Buddha was gazing,I realized the purpose of the long walkway. The Buddha was gazing out the temple, and down the entire length of the pathway I had just walked. The pathway made sense now. If you were coming to worship the Buddha, he would be watching you throughout your approach.
Inside the temple there were a lot of artifacts and explanations on the construction of the temple. In one area, there was a large sign that read "Please do not deface the sacred property". In the sign's immediate vicinity was a wooden pillar that various people were crawling through and laughing and taking photographs- not irreverent at all! Of course, since everyone else was doing it, I did it too! Thank goodness I am on the smaller side by the American standard, because I barely fit through the pillar.
After all the fun and games in the Buddhist temple (I know, it just sounds bizarre) there was a gift shop that I perused, finding some interesting things. To me, the oddest of these were the sets of Omamori(cloth pouches that have been prayed over to bring good luck or safety to specific items) with the image of the Buddha on the front. Omamori are Shinto charms. Shinto and Buddhism are not the same religion. Yet, inside this Buddhist temple, they were selling Shinto Omamori with images of the Buddha on them. For tourists, no doubt. In other various shops/ gift shops in the park, I also found various dolls, Omamori, and, oh yeah, shurikens. Ninjas anyone?
Right outside of the temple was a statue of this man, whose name escapes me, who was said to have excellent powers in channeling spirits/ energy/ forces. He was immortalized in this horrific looking wooden likeliness. It is said that if you rub a certain part of his body, and then rub the corresponding part on your own body, that any ailments you have will disappear. I had no ailments at the time, but I figured I might as well do it, just for fun. Showing my higher intellect, I rubbed his left knee and I rubbed my right. Promptly the next day, I severely strained my right knee and couldn't walk for 2 days. I am now fully recovered. An interesting occurrence for sure!
I went on to explore other parts of the park and other temples and Jin-jas, but I will save that for my next post, as this one is getting quite long!
I hope you all enjoyed the trip to Nara and Todaiji Temple.
~Sarah
