![\"Breakfast\"](\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/TepxZoo.jpg\")
<\/a><\/br>Breakfast<\/br>Cold Noodles as I was praising the great Japanese convenience stores.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n At 9 in the morning it was a laborious walk from our apartment to the nearby train station, as my friends expressed that they hardly got up this early in their senior year. <\/br>Flowers<\/br>This seemed like a traditional Japanese hotel.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Osaka Metro Nippombashi Station Underground Passage<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n The common choices of getting from Osaka to Nara should be Kintetsu or JR. It’s not that much a difficult choice as Kintetsu has got huge geological advantage for its Nara Station.<\/p>\n Since we figured that we wouldn’t likely be taking buses in Nara, so we just forget about the “Nara Ikaruga 1-day Ticket” that came in various sub-versions starting at 1500JPY and go with our travel card.<\/p>\n It was Golden Week in Japan and the Kintetsu train to Nara was fully packed, as Nara was among the top domestic destinations for Japanese people. <\/br>East Osaka<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Kintetsu Railway<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Nara Suburb<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Heij\u014d Palace(\u5e73\u57ce\u5bae) was the imperial residence in the north-central of Japanese capital city Heij\u014d-ky\u014d (today’s Nara), during most of the Nara period. When the capital was moved to Heian-ky\u014d (now called Kyoto), Nara’s Imperial Palace was simply abandoned. Now parts of the Palace was reconstructed. <\/br>Heij\u014d Palace<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Fresh out of Kintetsu Nara Station we were on the perimeter of Nara Park that’s packed with deer. <\/br>Racial Discrimination: Deer-Feeding Okay, Pigeon-Feeding Prohibited<\/p><\/div> <\/br> <\/br>Entrance to Himuro Shrine<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Summer Flowers<\/p><\/div> <\/br>\u014cgai Gate<\/br>Famed Japanese author Mori Mari lived in Nara for 10 years beginning 1918. Her house was on this spot until later demolished, leaving only this gateway left.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n As someone from Mainland China, I witnessed what “missionaries” were like in the West. They were dressed in uniform Yellow and wielded loudspeakers, on the streets and plazas in the land of the free they yelled their quest to reclaim their holy land usurped by totalitarianism. But what they did was futile, people on the land of the free cared little for the rest, any meagre sympathy was quickly replaced by the fear of losing cheap foreign labor. T\u014ddai-ji(\u6771\u5927\u5bfa, Eastern Great Temple) is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples. The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the Kegon school of Buddhism. The building was established by Emperor Sh\u014dmu in 728. The temple has acquired this name by the fact it was located to the east of the Heij\u014d-ky\u014d. Its Great Buddha Hall(\u5927\u4ecf\u6bbf) houses the world’s largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, and is the world’s largest remaining ancient wooden structure.<\/p>\n <\/br>South Gate of T\u014ddaiji<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Wood Beams over South Gate of T\u014ddaiji<\/br>And wooden Nio Statue.<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Deer in Nara<\/br>Judging by its hair, this was a newborn?<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Deer in Nara<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Kagamiike<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n After that the Great Buddha Hall belongs to T\u014ddai-ji’s ticketed area. At the ticket counter there’s an unfortunate sign said “If your ticket was eaten by deer, please purchase a new ticket”. My friends commented that schoolboys here got the perfect excuse for not turning in homework. <\/br>Great Buddha Hall of T\u014ddai-ji<\/br>The two golden half-circles at the top of Great Buddha Hall represent fish. According to our guide, wooden structures like this were susceptible to fire. There’s no fire in the water where fish lives.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Censer in T\u014ddai-ji<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n There’s a window above the main entrance of Great Buddha Hall. According to our guide, in ancient times that window opened like twice per year, as the grounds of Great Buddha Hall was off public access for most of the time during the year, and when the window was open, people could see the Buddha through that window from afar. <\/br>Buddha Statue in Great Buddha Hall of T\u014ddai-ji<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Wood Structure of Great Buddha Hall of T\u014ddai-ji<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Buddha Statue in Great Buddha Hall of T\u014ddai-ji<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Model of Current Great Buddha Hall<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n There were models of the Great Buddha Hall in history on display, the overall trend was getting smaller and smaller. According to our guide, guess that’s budget shrinking.<\/p>\n <\/br>Calligraphy from Primary School Children<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Hollow Pillar<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Hollow Pillar<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Exam Passage Ema<\/br>Upon seeing this, my friends were like, “No I want extinction, I don’t just want pass.”<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Pindola Bharadv\u0101ja<\/br>It’s said that if one felt uncomfortable somewhere in his body, touching that spot on Pindola Bharadv\u0101ja would relieve his own pain. I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all, so in the best interest I touched every touchable part of this statue, which were very few by the way.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>T\u014ddai-ji<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Great Buddha Hall of T\u014ddai-ji behindr Trees<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Kagamiike<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Ashoka’s Pillar<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Religious Pillar(\u76f8\u8f6e)<\/p><\/div> It was almost 1pm, as we prepared to head back to downtown Nara for lunch, one of my friends amazingly found a noodles shop inside the T\u014ddai-ji complex. <\/br>Lunch<\/br>I thought the correct manner to consume these noodles were to break the egg into the soup water. But the soup was quite salty, so the end result was that I consumed like 1\/10 of the egg. By the way I quite liked the tableware.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Clock Tower of T\u014ddai-ji<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Clock Tower of T\u014ddai-ji<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n After lunch, our next stop was T\u014ddai-ji Nigatsu-do, which wasn’t very far away.<\/p>\n <\/br>Passage to T\u014ddai-ji Nigatsu-do<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Donation Stele at T\u014ddai-ji<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Donation Stele at T\u014ddai-ji<\/br>100 years ago, donating 100 Japanese Yen would bring you a stele, today it’s 100K, a sign of how much depreciation Japan’s Yen suffered during World War II.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Nigatsu-d\u014d was founded by a monk by the name of Sanetada in 752. Jitchu, a pupil of R\u014dben, later introduced a repentance service dedicated to the image of the eleven-faced Bodhisattva, Kannon in 760, which was later evolved into Shuni-e performed during the second month of lunisolar calendar, and this is how Nigatsu-do got its name. The current building was reconstructed in 1669.<\/p>\n <\/br>Entrance to Nigatsu-do<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Nigatsu-do Overlooking Downtown nara<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Of course, we didn’t arrive in time for Shuni-e, so we just admired the views of downtown Nara from Nigatsu-do, together with its own architectural structure.<\/p>\n <\/br>Hand Wash at Nigatsu-do<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Hando Shrine<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Lantarn at Nigatsu-do<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Lantarn at Nigatsu-do<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Lantarn at Nigatsu-do<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Lantarn and Wooden Doors at Nigatsu-do<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Free Water and Tee at Nigatsu-do Cafe<\/br>I applauded the idea that Nigatsu-do cared about its thirsty visitors, but I’m just not so sure about the practice here that it’s the visitor that were washing the cups after use, so I used to my own bottle for the water.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br> <\/br>Shrine by Nigatsu-do<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Stone Lantarn at Nigatsu-do<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Near Nigatsu-do there’s this Todaiji HokkeDo (Sangatsudo) built in 8-th Century AD, where 10 Buddha Statues from Nara Period were stored. But it seemed that Todaiji HokkeDo carried a separate ticket which didn’t appeal to my friends, we just walked on.<\/p>\n Tamukeyama Hachiman-g\u016b Shrine was built in 749AD to welcome the guarding divinity Hachiman of T\u014ddai-ji, from which on it always guarded T\u014ddai-ji. During Meiji period government regulations required that Tamukeyama Hachiman-g\u016b Shrine to be separated from T\u014ddai-ji. The current building was re-constructed in 1691AD.<\/p>\n But on that day Tamukeyama Hachiman-g\u016b Shrine seemed more like a deserted temple with few visitors, it’s just the shops on its side selling various upmarket souvenirs reminded us that this was still the bustling city of Nara. <\/br>Stage in Tamukeyama Hachiman-g\u016b Shrine<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Groups of Stone Latern in Tamukeyama Hachiman-g\u016b Shrine<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Roly-Poly Toy in Couples Shape<\/br>Didn’t know who left them here.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Temples in Tamukeyama Hachiman-g\u016b Shrine<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n <\/br>Mount Wakakusa Park<\/p><\/div>\n Kasuga Grand Shrine was first established in 768AD as the headquarter of Kasuga Temples throughout the country. We were walking from Tamukeyama Hachiman-g\u016b Shrine to Kasuga-taisha that day, which was against the usual Kasuga-taisha visitor flow.<\/p>\n <\/br>Mizuya Shrine<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Ice Cream Vending Machine<\/br>Well, vending machines in Japan can sell everything.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Tree Growing in Strange Direction<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Compared with the previous T\u014ddai-ji with its dense structure complex, passage to Kasuga-taisha was like cut out of the woods.<\/p>\n <\/br>Wishing House by Kasuga-taisha<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Entrance to Kasuga-taisha<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Wisteria Flower<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Passage around Kasuga-taisha<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Hanging Lantern around Kasuga-taisha<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Kasuga-taisha’s famous for its hanging lantern. But since my friends weren’t particularly interested in inner Kasuga-taisha which carried a ticket, so we just skipped it and headed back to downtown Nara.<\/p>\n <\/br>Stone Lanterns in Kasuga-taisha<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Kasuga Shrine Chakutoden<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Deer-Shaped Hand Wash<\/br>Since Nara was famous for its deer, they got this deer-shaped sculpture.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Donation Board<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Beside passage to Kasuga-taisha there were ancient archery display in an ancient pavilion, it’s just that the actors weren’t very good at archery themselves.<\/p>\n <\/br>Stone Lanterns in Kasuga-taisha<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br>Ancient Tree in Nara Park<\/br>We rested here for some time.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n <\/br>Park in Nara<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Flock of Deer in Nara Park<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Temple in Nara Park(\u5186\u7a93\u4ead)<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Pavilion (\u6d6e\u898b\u5802) in the Water<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Washichi in Nara Park<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Streets of Nara<\/br>Street with few traffic and lined with fallen leaves, a lovely scene of mother holding child’s hand walking from school.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Tenrikyo Church<\/br>At first I thought this was the garden of some rich and famous people, it took some closer look to realize that this was a church. I searched online and found that Tenrikyo was founded totally by Japanese people, so they got such a Japanese-styled church.<\/span><\/p><\/div>
\nThe images in this post are hosted on Imgur. Email me should there be any display problems.<\/br>Since this is a public post, usual components of graduation trip such as poker games, pillow fights, ghost stories won’t be part of the post.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\n<\/a>Transport<\/span><\/h3>\n
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\n<\/a>Heij\u014d Palace<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nSince Heij\u014d Palace wasn’t conveniently located for transportation, I just took a few pictures on the train and that’s it.
\n<\/a>Nara Park<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nOur first stop of the day should be K\u014dfuku-ji, a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples. It’s Five-Storied Pagoda first constructed in 730AD measured 50.8 meters in height, with the current Pagoda reconstructed in 1426AD. Unfortunately, it seemed that the Temple was under renovation that day, so we just headed straight to Nara Park.
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\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br>Deer in Nara<\/p><\/div>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Residents in Nara<\/p><\/div>
\nThroughout the City of Nara Deer Biscuits were sold at uniform 100 JPY per pack. A friend of I tried tasting this food for the deer, and it was good.
\n(So to me it became a local speciality.)
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\n<\/a>Missionary<\/span><\/h4>\n
For people from Mainland China, click this text to see the “Missionaries” I encountered.<\/summary>\n
\nMissionaries in Nara was much more approachable. They were smiling statues sprinkled along the street, holding brochures and maybe umbrellas in hand while looking down on the unenlightened masses passing by. Look closer, and you would find “Origins of Life” printed on their brochures. Like missionaries in the West, people were hardly interested in their stories, but their lofty existence dwarfed the annoying priests in Yellow.
\n<\/details>\nT\u014ddai-ji<\/span><\/h3>\n
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\n<\/a>Great Buddha Hall<\/span><\/h4>\n
\nAnd Great Buddha Hall provided free guide in multiple languages, including Mandarin Chinese.<\/span>
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\n<\/a>But now since we have capitalism, Great Buddha Hall was open to the public all year around for ticket revenues.<\/del><\/p>\n<\/a>
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\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Model of T\u014ddai-ji Great Buddha Hall in History<\/p><\/div>
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\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Deer in Nara<\/p><\/div><\/p>\nLunch<\/span><\/h4>\n
\nRunning the noodles shop were an elderly couple (that obviously open spoke Japanese). So we ordered our lunch by pointing fingers at the menu pictures, and because they were blurry and we didn’t know what we ordered ourselves, when the noodles were served, it’s their turn to point at menu pictures so that we knew who ordered what.
\nWell, that’s a process full of surprise.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nAnd after lunch, we found that this restaurant in the middle of a tourist spot was no more expensive than restaurants downtown(maybe because restaurants in Japan weren’t something cheap by and large).<\/p>\n<\/a>
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\n<\/a>Nigatsu-do<\/span><\/h4>\n
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\n<\/a><\/a><\/br> Nigatsu-do<\/p><\/div>
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\n<\/a>Tamukeyama Hachiman-g\u016b Shrine<\/span><\/h4>\n
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\n<\/a><\/a>Kasuga-taisha<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nIt housed Takemikazuchi, Futsunushi and Ame-no-Koyane among other deities, it’s the shrine of the Fujiwara family.
\nThe nearby Kasugayama Mountain was considered a sacred hill for which hunting and logging were prohibited. It’s spread with a primeval forest and home to various species.
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