Friday August 15, 1997: Nara
on the train to Osaka: 8pm
Well, what can I say? Today was NARA day, period. The brief version: today I... saw the biggest wooden building in the world, saw a Buddha that weighs 400 TONNES whose EARS are 2.5 metres long, conqured a mountain, got lost, got lost again, had an hour and a half conversation with 2 Japanese motorcycle dudes who spoke no English, met a Canadian from Toronto, spoke French to a tourist who needed help, experienced the awesome lighting of 3,000 candle lanterns, walked through the whole population of Nara (plus tourists) - AGAINST the flow, found a beautiful waterfall, and put over 20kms of new mileage on the shoes.
All in a day's work. Now for the longer version...
I was actually up at 6 and checked out by 6:30 - and in Nara by 8:30. First thing, I headed to the Toshodai-ji (Temple of T'ang) which is not in the regular tourist circuit. Actually, I got off one station early (on purpose) so that I could walk through som e countryside... I found a really beautiful river and lots of rice fields - and I got lots of stares. I've noticed that ever since I've left Tokyo I've been getting lots of looks because I'm a gaijin (foreigner), and a female one at that! Anyways, it took me about 15 minutes to get to Toshodai-ji. It's a really old building (built in 800 around!!!!) and it's famous for it's architecture (the greates Tempyo era construction in existence - whatever that means) and for the story of its head priest. The story is that an emperor built this temple as the first temple for a certain Buddhist sect - and invited its head priest from China to come and teach the monks at this temple. Well, being 800 AD and all, it took the priest 12 YEARS to get there - after numerous mysterious attempts and tragedies. By the time he got there he was in his seventies, and completely blind. Anyways, there was a really cool statue of Buddha there, and beautiful gardens. Plus, I'll admit it, the architecture was pretty cool.
So right next door to this temple is the Yakushi-ji (Yakushi Temple). What's famous about this place is its 3 story pagoda. See, they constructed it so that each tier of the pagoda has another sub-tier under it -- so it actually looks like a 6 tiered pagoda when really its 3. Truly beautiful. Oh, I finally found out what "pagoda" means too - it's a grave for Buddha. This one was old - built in 680 AD. Wooooah.
It was a little past 10 now so I took the train into the more downtown part of Nara - uh, the tourist centre. Just ons of tourists. First I walked to the Sarusawano Ike (Sarusawano Pond) which is said to have once been the home to a dragon (cool) until one day one of the emperor's concubines, after being rejected by the emperor, drowned herself there. Ever since then the dragon has never returned. Darn. So I didn't see a dragon, but there were lots of cute turtles!
Also, Sarusawano Ike is at the bottom of Kofuku-ji (Kofuku Temple) and the view of its 5 story pagoda over the pond is supposedly one of the most scenic sights in Nara. But, it was just a plain green pond to me, at this point... although I found out later how different it could be.. but that's getting ahead of myself.
So once I viewed the famous 5 storied pagoda from below, I walked up the 50-odd stairs to its base, where behold,, there were just loads of deer! Oh yeeah, I'd forgotten about the deer! Well, Nara is famous for it's hoards of deer (over 1,000 of them in Nara Park) who are so friendly to everyone that you can actually PET the darned things without any problem. Well, that's just because they expect food...so they were really cool. And for the rest of the day they would pop up in the strangest places... in a temple, in the park, in the middle of an intersection... strange.
Back to this pagoda - now you may think that a pagoda is a pagoda is a pagoda is a pagoda, but that is NOT the case! Each one is incredibly beautiful, and in a different style. I never tire from looking at them.
Next, I walked through part of Nara Park (which is huuuuge) and then over to the infamous Todaiji (Great Eastern Temple). Yes, I finally found my way to this place and I knew exactly where I was going first -- to the Daibutsu-den (Great Buddha Hall) - and that's where I found - that's right, the Great Buddha. Now it's a bit hard to explain HOW huge this statue is. First of all, he's housed in the largest wooden structure in the world. Needless to say, this building is large. Very cool looking. What's even MORE cool is that this building is a 1708 reconstruction of the original (because the previous ones burnt in numerous first...) and it's only TWO THIRDS the original size!! Woah!
Let me get to this Buddha guy. So he's made of bronze - when he was first built they depleted Japan's whole bronze supply, supposedly. Why? Because he's 400 TONNES! Heavy guy... Here are his proportions: He's sitting cross-legged on a lotus flower with 1,000 petals. Height of body: 48.8 feet. Length of face: 5.33 metres (17.49 feet). Length of one eye: 1.02 metres (3.34ft.). Lenght of nose: 0.5m (1.64ft). Length of ear: 2.5m (8.33ft). Now he's the largest bronze statue in the world, but he's been decapitated, and almost melted, and various other troubles... so even though he's been reconstructed, he's a little worse for the wear. But incredibly huge.
So I left the hall, and went to try to find Sangetsu-ji (3 month temple), but I could only find Nigetsu-ji (2 month temple). Argh. But I found a back route to the Kasuga Taisha, or Spring Day Shrine. This is where I found the 3,000 stone lanterns - the scene of tonight's festivities. Actually, this path to the shrine is really nice because it's a cobblestone road for pedestrians, with all these large old stone lanterns on either side, all going up Mt. Kasuga. The shrine itself is very beautiful, with its many iron lamps too...
It was in leaving the Kasuga Taisha that I saw the sign - ooo - that sign that read "Uguisu no Taki 3kms". (Nightingale Falls - 3kms). Yeah, and when I looked towards where the arrow was pointing, I could only see a mountain. Wow, now this is almost like putting stairs in front of me - if I see a mountain and a path and a sign for a waterfall... then I must go! No questions asked! And off I went. It was 12:45, so I figured - 3kms - 45 minutes tops to get there (uphill), and even less to get down, right? Right? Hmph. Well, I started out - I was hiking really fast just because I had the energy and it was cooler in the shade of the forest, and as I was climbing upwards there was a cool breeze... it was extremely pretty... the only sounds I could hear were the birds chirping and my feet hitting the gravel path. Peaceful indeed. Of course, this is where I kind of got lost. Yeah, on a mountain path. How'd I do that? Well, the first time that I came to a fork in the path, I chose the path to the right. The next time to the left. I figured, hey, 3 kms... I can't get THAT lost. But after I'd been hiking for abouut 45 minutes and there was still no sign of a waterfall... I began to wonder. But there was NO WAY I was going to turn around then... so I kept on going. Good thing, too, because within 5 mins I found myself at a road for cars, and there was a map, and a booth with a guy in it. So I asked the guy "Are the waterfalls down there?" pointing down the road. He says "Waterfalls?" and gives a laugh.. "Uh yeah, the Uguisu waterfalls are that way. Just walk until you get to the red bridge and you can see from there." Ok, I'm off! Hmm.. the path starts going down, and down... Ugh, I hate that feeling when you're walking down and you know you're just gonna have to walk back up again... at least it was still through the forest.
Walking... walking... walking... umm... hello? I was under the impression that this red bridge was close! It ended up being half an hour away - fast paced downhill! But at this point I *really* wanted to find those waterfalls (even if it meant hiking all night!). Finally I got to them and yes, they were really beautiful. There was a winding stone staircase leading down to its bottom, wherer there was a little pool of water. I stayed there for awhile, just enjoying the discovery, then turned around and headed back to Nara. Ok, now that was NOT 3 kms. Actually, by my estimates, it was 5 or 6 kms, one way -- someone's distance measurer is just a weee bit off. BUT, it was a great walk, and I conquered Mt. Kasuga!
Now it was about 3:30 (2.5 hours of hiking...) and I just wanted to sit down and rest my feet. So I went back to the Sarusawano pond and sat there in the shade. and yes indeed it was scenic! I retract my earlier comments! It was reflecting the sky, and the 5 story pagoda... very nice.
It was sitting here that this guy walks up to me, phrase book in hand, and says (in English, and with difficulty) "Do you..", checks the phrase book, "speaku English?". Since he was Japanese, and was obviously having trouble with the English language, I answered him in Japanese. We ended up chatting for an hour and a half - it was fun! He would occasionally ask how to say something in English, and I would occasionally ask how to say something in Japanese. But wow, I hadn't quite realized that I could have a *normal* conversation (um, a normal limited conversation) in Japansese. Neat.
Close to 6 o'clock I left (not before we did Print club though!) to head over to the Kasuga Taisha - where they were lighting those 3,000 lanterns.
Wow, LOTS of people. What I didn't realize then was that I was actually EARLY, and that it wasn't crowded at all (compared to later...). I got to the top of the hill, where the shrine was, and entered. There were lots of people there - some ceremony was going on. NO lamps were lit. So I went over to the security gurad and asked what time they would light the lamps. So he explained that right now they were holding that ceremony, which would last for maybe another 20 minutes, and then the members (I assume he meant the members of the shrine) would light the lamps in the shrine, and then they would hand out flames to certain people who would then go and light the lamps further down the paths. So I was hanging round, waiting, when I hear (in English) "Umm.. excuse me, where in Canada are you from?" so I turn around, and it's this gaijin guy that I've seen around Nara a couple of times today with a few other guys. He had seen my Canadian flag on my bag. Anyways, he's from Toronto! Just graduated from Queens actually, and got here 3 weeks ago for the JET program. Anyways, the reason he came upto me was because him and his friends had seen me talking to the security guard and wanted to know if I knew what was going on. So I told him what little that I knew, and returned to watching the ceremony. They were starting to light the lamps near the ceremony, but it seemed reserved for special people. I wanted to know how to get into that part of the temple because it was so beautiful. Dusk... with these iron lanterns faintly glowing..
After about 10 minutes I figured that I'm not allowed in, so I as going to leave and walk down the path through all the stone lanterns. As I was leaving though, I saw the Canadian and his friends, who were also contemplating what to do. So as we were standing there talking (4 or 5 gaijin) this young woman gaijin comes up to us and asks in French if someone speaks French... she wanted to know what was going on too. Surprisingly, I could still speak enough French to explain! Anyways, while I was talking to her, yet ANOTHER gaijin walks up and say "OK, do ANY of you guys know what's going on here?" Ha ha! So here we are, a huge bunch of gaijin with *no clue*. We musta looked funny - actually, there were even people taking pictures of us!!
Well, I had to leave to catch my train, so I headed down the path. And that's when I realized that ALL of Nara was out to see this lantern lighting ceremony (since they only do it bi-annually). No joke. And while *I* was trying to LEAVE, *they* were just arriving. Wow, that made for a difficult descent! But it was incredible seeing those 3,000 lanterns on my way down, dimly lighting the stone path on either side. Neat-o.
Ok, and now I'm late to check into the Osaka Youth Hostel - it took me longer to get here by train than expected. I'm going to have to sprint from the station!!