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Nara- a city of deer and surprises

Nara is full of Deer

None of us had any expectations from Nara as we had not even read about it before visting Japan. I really didn't know what to expect out of the city and how to go around it once we reached there. All we knew was that it was near Kyoto and Osaka and it had temples including a very big statue of Buddha. We also knew that a visit here was highly recommended by all those who knew Japan.

We visited Nara the morning after arriving in Osaka. It wasn't too difficult as we took a subway from next to our hotel and it took just one change of train to get to Nara.
By now we knew that Nara was famous for the temple called Tōdai-ji  which housed the second largest statue of Buddha in Japan called the Daibutsu. We had already seen the third largest in Kamakura but never reached the town of Katsuyama which has the largest statue. The signboard showed that Nara park and Todai-ji were in same direction so we followed the crowds towards the right side of the station.

We hadn't yet reached the Nara park when the first surprise welcomed us in the form of several deer roaming around freely on the walking paths. People were buying snacks to feed these deer. Then I noticed that the deer were very demanding and would try to take the snacks from the hands of the tourists. I was watching the deer with fascination when I realised that something was pulling me. It was a deer which had snatched the Nara route map from my hand was gulping it down. I tried resisting but had to let go. The deer ate up the map !


Deer Deer everywhere !

The Nara park was also full of deer. The deer here are considered to be envoys of the god and are therefore protected. I had never seen a town full of domesticated deer and it was indeed a fascinating sight. Wherever we went to in Nara, there were deer all around. I wonder how people drive on the road as the deer can always run across the roads. But these deer were not only a fascination for the tourists but there was a brisk sale of food by vendors for them. It was an industry.

Soon we got used to these deer floating around the city. The parks and hillocks looked very pretty as many of them rested there.

The Todaiji Temple and the Big Buddha


Thousands line up for entering Todaiji temple


Every temple or garden we visited in Japan, we always found hundreds of school children there. It seems schools take out the kids very often to the temples and famous gardens. Nara was no exception and we saw many school children entering the Todaiji temple. This temple is one of the most famous temples of Japan and built in 752 AD, it became a very powerful temple which influenced the Government to a great extent. The wooden hall inside is the largest wooden hall in the world with a huge statue of Buddha.We didn't know all this so it came as a big surprise when told that we we were standing in front of second largest statue of Buddha in Japan in this large hall called the Daibutsuden.
The second largest statue of Buddha in Japan is at Nara
As is the tradition people write messages on tablets and paper and tie it at some designated spot around the temple. Though mostly the messages are about world peace and prosperity, it became clear that many who had written messages were no fans of Donald Trump.






India in Japan



Ashoka Pillar with a time capsule. 


The biggest surprise came when we stumbled to our national emblem (Ashoka emblem ) near Todaiji. It is right next to Todaiji and near that you can see golden pagodas. It was a real pleasing sight and we learnt that it was established in 1988 to commemorate 'thousand priest services'. A time capsule with a message was buried under it which would be opened in 2038 - which would be at the completion of 1500 years of arrival of Buddhism in Japan. 

Around Todaiji


Todaiji was just one of the shrines in Nara. There were many more and we took a round of the complex and a few temples. Nigatsudo Hall was at a height and gave a lovely view of the surroundings. Hokkedo Hall was not very far. It would be best if I describe them just with photographs. 

Hokkedo Hall

On the way to Nigatsudo Hall

A view from outside the Nigatsudo Hall

Near the walking path leading to the shrines
Inside a shrine

We saw many artists in Nara capturing the buildings on canvas.

Journey back with school kids

I had actual dozed off in the train to Osaka on the way back. As I opened my eyes I was perplexed to see dozens of small school kids ( age must be around 5-6 years) all over the compartment. My eyes looked around for a teacher or supervisor and I could see none. My daughter Sanya sitting next to me started laughing when she realised what I was looking for. She informed me that these kids were on their own and had no teacher with them.She said that she had been fascinatingly observing them for the last 20 minutes or so. 

Kids of this age traveling alone without supervision - this was a huge surprise for me as we are very protective towards our kids in India and do not allow them to travel without tight supervision. But here these kids were totally at home and seemed very used to travelling in metros and local trains.They were all in school uniforms and had identical bags. Some had made groups and were gossiping, some were reading while others were busy painting. As a stop would come, the kid standing next to the door was pulled back by others to keep him/her safe. Yet each knew when his/her stop came. They would calmly get off at their stop and bye byes were said very cutely. 

This taught us a lot about Japanese way of life. And we were impressed. 

Gossip session in train !



Even I played with a deer !
Twitter : @arorarohin
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