Just when I thought things were getting boring, I went on an interesting trip to Nara this Saturday! For those of you who don't know, Japan's capital city has changed a few times throughout history, but Nara was the first. To use an English comparison you might say Nara is to Kyoto what Winchester is to London, and Kyoto has a similar relationship to Tokyo. We travelled by bus and were up early as the journey took a couple of hours each way, but armed with a volume of Wodehouse stories it passed by pleasantly enough. Scenery wasn't too hot as it took quite a while to get out of the city-like area, but there were a good few roving hills and forests to be seen at times; it reminded me of Devon countryside, but a little bit bigger. I was also able to experience Japanese service stations... rather more clean than their English counterparts, but still with graffiti in the toilets.
First stop on the trip was the 法隆寺(Horyuji), sort of an early seminary for training up monks when Buddhism first came to Japan. If I remember right the original was built sometime around 607, but was destroyed by fire. The second version was erected in 711, and is still standing today, making it one of the oldest wooden structures in Japan, if not the world! I was very impressed that it had lasted so long (though it does get patched up every couple of centuries) and that so many intricate designs could be carved from wood. We were shown around by a volunteer guide, who gave us a bit of history on the place, switching intermittently between Japanese and English, then at the end of the tour he distributed pairs of bamboo chopsticks as souvenirs ... actually, he didn't have enough to go around, so he only gave them to the foreign people, but still, he was a thoroughly decent chap.
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| 法隆寺 |
Next up was Nara Koen (奈良公園), a large park littered primarily with three things - Buddhist temples, deer and red leaves. The temples and similar structures were all humblingly old; I felt like a time-traveller walking around them. A strong smell of incense also pervaded the surrounding area, giving these places an appropriately calming, "sacred" atmosphere. This was probably the first time I got to see non-rein deer close up, and my goodness there were a lot of them! It's no wonder Nara's mascot (yes, it seems every major city in Japan has a mascot, good for the tourist trade) looks like a Buddhist monk with antlers. It was quite unlike anything I've seen before to see so many wondering about, and for them to be so used to people to allow me a casual stroke or two in passing, though they quickly lost interest when they realised I didn't have any food.
I felt it necessary to mention the leaves because of their colour. This year Japan has had an unusually long summer, so the leaves are only just starting to change colour and fall from the trees. In Japanese the autumnal colours are called
Kouyou/紅葉, literally meaning "Crimson Leaves." At one time I thought this description may have been exaggerating a bit, but the leaves of the Japanese Maple/
Momiji really turn a colour that is so brilliantly red it sometimes seems unreal. After a couple of hours (or one and a half if we're to split hairs) of wondering around this pleasant environment it was back on the bus for a long ride homeward. So all in all a fun trip, rewarding in terms of knowledge and experience, though quite tiring as well.
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| Innit lovely? |
