June 24, 2016 Kyoto and Nara

June 24, 2016- Kyoto and Nara

1st stop Byodin Temple in Kyoto. It was built in 1052. It is a Buddhist Temple that has was built by the regent Fujiwara no Yorimichi. The main attraction is Phoenix Hall. We weren't able to go into the hall, but there is a museum that has many of the statues including 26 statues of Worshipping Bodhisattvas that were originally in the hall. Lots of school children were visiting this temple today. They were very cute.

We took a bus outside of Kyoto to Obakusan Mampukuj Temple. It's the head temple in Japan of the Obakusan sect of Zen Buddhism. It is also the teaching monastery for the sect's student monks. It was built in 1592 and is in the style of the Ming dynasty temples. It has 23 main buildings. This was a less touristy temple. We walked through a neighborhood to get to the temple and there were some other small small temples along the way. Then we were off on the bus to Nara.

In Nara we visited one temple complex, the Todai-Ji Temple. We had been warned that there were a lot of deer in Nara. Boy, what a lot of deer. Apparently deer are sacred in Nara. They have close to 2000 deer roaming the streets. They are actually quite aggressive since there are people selling food to feed them. One of them actually tore off one of my travel companion's rain poncho. Lots of deer poop too. Combined with the torrential downpour, the deer poop was pretty gross.

This temple was built in the Nara period (710-794 AD) This temple was built to house a Vairocana Buddha (Buddha that shines throughout the world like the sun). This temple was built to reflect the importance of this Buddha. Most temples in Japan have been burned over the years. The Great Buddha (it was a very big Buddha) was burned in 1180 and again in 1567. The Great Buddha Hall was rebuilt during the Edo period. It was quite crowded and rained very hard. It rained so hard that there were rivers of water cascading off the roof. The rain stopped after a while and we headed to our hotel.

One of the guardians of the Buddha

We also visited Kasuga Shrine. It's a Shinto shrine first built in 768 AD for the Fujiwara family. It is famous for it's many stone lanterns leading up to the shrine. 

Our hotel was a traditional Japanese Ryoken. Of course we couldn't wear shoes in our rooms and we were supposed to wear traditional Japanese robes, yukatas. There was a nice bath there that we enjoyed as well. We were served a traditional dinner that was beautiful and delicious. We did find a little bar in Nara to check out after dinner. Everything is very small in Japan. The bar probably held 15 people and of course everyone smokes. Back to the hotel for a challenging sleep on a futon with a lot a buckwheat pillow. I was able to stack two more futons and a few quilts on top to soften it. Sleep was fleeting.

My new friend Anne

Our futon beds

Bathroom slippers