Day 8: part 2 - Nara

After settling in and resting for just a short while, I decided to get on the train and head to Nara. I was surprised to learn that Nara is close enough to Osaka, and convenient to where I am staying; I was able to take the train from my hotel straight to Nara, without having to go to a more central station. It only took about 40 minutes.

Without any real information as to what was where, or what there was to see, I knew that there must be an information center, and so I stopped by there first. I didn't bother to ask any questions, but I did get a map, and it was easy to see where I should go from the train station. I walked for about 15 minutes before I got to the main park where many of the key sites, shrines, and temples are. But walking along one street to the park, it is easy to see that this neighborhood really takes advantage of the tourists that come to see Nara, as there were many traditional Japanese restaurants, and many souvenir shops.

Since the previous day's dance class had ingrained in me the idea that I had to come to Nara and visit the National Treasures Museum to see the sculpture of Ashura, with six arms, two in prayer that are almost touching, Kamihitoe. Other sculptures were of six patriarchs of Japanese Buddhism in Japan. The first one was sculpted with a face that reminded me of Ohno Yoshito, my dance teacher in Yokohama.

Because I rested in the room before coming to Nara, I got here a bit later in the afternoon, and so there wasn't as much time to see different places before they closed for the day. (Of course, I would be able to walk around these big buildings and sites, but not within them. Right when I got to the Todai-ji Buddhist temple, it was about to close, but I was lucky enough to get in before it closed and see the world's largest bronze sculpture of Buddha. It was neat.

After that I walked to the hill at the end of the historic sites where the Kasuga Shrine sits. It was nice enough, but what I really enjoyed was just walking along the paths through the hills. One of the most awesome features of the historic sites of Nara is that there are deer walking everywhere. They are still wild animals, but like the pigeons in New York City, they are so accustomed to people that it is easy to walk right up to them and pet them, or feed them. In fact, there are a lot of people through the park that are selling little crackers to feed the deer. I suppose that they are so used to people feeding them, that it seems like their first instinct was to come up to people, and then when I offer nothing, they turn and walk away.

Before too long, walking with the deer in the hills, it was getting dark, so I turned around and headed back to the train station. Rather than walk back the same way I came, I walked down a more residential street, seeing that many of the homes had traditional architecture, contributing to the ambience of the whole area.