Nara

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Nara. We’d heard and read so much about Nara that we were really looking forward to having a look around. The people we stayed with in Asago, he had been to university in Nara and had given us all sorts of tips and suggestions of what to see. And we’d booked into what appeared to be quite a neat hostel.

The first few days we were there were spent exploring Kyoto (see previous blog). We saw the street between the train station and supermarket and the hostel. We also went to see Kofukuji temple, but weren’t overly successful. It was another temple that was undergoing restoration / renovation and was totally covered.

So of course when it came time to explore Nara properly, it rained. And rained and rained and rained. We’d actually been invited to a Hanami Party in Osaka the day we’d intended to look round Nara, and while really wanting to go we also wanted the time in Nara. As it was, the party was cancelled as it was too wet, and it was really too wet to spend long walking around Nara. So we missed out totally!

We did head out for a while around Nara. The girls were ok, we layered them with merino and fleece, water-proof leggings and jackets, Katrina was in the backpack with its waterproof cover. Samara borrowed an umbrella from the hostel. We also borrowed umbrellas, but as we didn’t have water proof trousers, we got wet and so got cold. And Samara splashed in so many puddles, the water was coming up inside her waterproof leggings.

Anyway, we did get to see some things. We started our shortened walking tour by walking past Sarusawa-Ike pond to see if we could find any carp. We did. One. Just across the road was the Kofukuji temple complex, with its three storey pagoda from 1143 and five storey pagoda from 1426. And flooded walkways!

Just across the road was Nara koen, or Nara Park, where most of the other places we wanted to visit were. It is also home to about 1200 deer, and after Miyajima Samara wanted more deer. In pre-Buddhist times they were considered to be messengers of the gods and today seem to be national treasures. We bought a pack of shik-sembei, or deer biscuits, for Samara to feed to the deer. The deer are so pushy, it was hard to her to be able to hold a biscuit out without being seriously jostled. I’m glad the weather wasn’t good enough for a picnic in the park, it would have been a nightmare!

We wandered our way past Himuro Jinja Shrine – cherry blossom is still pretty in the rain! – past more deer (who didn’t want to be under Samara’s umbrella must to her disgust!) and through the Nandaimon Gate on our way to Todai-ji Temple.

The Nandaimon Gate is a massive gate with fierce looking wooden Nio guardians on either side. They have been restored recently but were originally carved in the 13^th century. Pretty impressive!

Todai-ji Temple and the Daibutsu, or Great Buddha, inside were also very impressive and probably most peoples main reason for coming to Nara. Judging by the number of people braving the downpour, it is a highlight on every tour.

The Daibutsu-den Hall is the largest wooden building in the world, and its apparently only about 2/3 the size it was originally. Its been rebuilt twice and the current building dates from 1709. The Daibutsu is one of the worlds largest bronze figures and was originally cast in 746. The present statue is about 15m high and consists of 437 tonnes of bronze and 130kg gold. It is an image of Dainichi Buddha, the cosmic Buddha believed to give rise to all worlds and their respective Buddhas.

It was good to be out of the rain, though a big wooden building even full of people was still cold inside. The Buddha was impressive though. Theres not a lot we can say about it, just have a look at the photos which don’t really do it justice.

Then it was time for lunch. The guidebook and a flyer we picked up from the tourist office mentioned a place with huge model train layouts that kids can control while eating. Perfect we thought. But we couldn’t find it. We found the right complex as other restaurants in the flyer were there, but this one seemed to have closed down and now there were three others in its place. Good job we hadn’t told the girls about it! We ended up in a waffle place as we were all hungry and the kids were doing what hungry kids do – not cooperating with us! They did a kids platter with waffles, fruit and ice cream which went down very well, and we had more savoury waffle dishes. But best of all was the play area, lots of toys and some of the girls favourites! Wooden railway and felt play food!

We pretty much gave up with the sight seeing after that. We were just too wet and we were all cold. We squelched and sploshed our way back to the hostel to dry out and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to entertain the girls inside a not so suitable common area.

So, this hostel. It looked so good online and all the reviews were ok or good. We’re not dissing it because of its unsuitability for small kids. But for its lack of facilities. On our floor, there was our dorm area (we had a ‘private’ room off the dorm) that slept 9 all up, and another dorm that we think had 6 beds. One toilet and one cold water sink. Downstairs there was another private room that had a family of 5 in while we were there. Plus one more toilet that, while meant to be for everyone, was tucked away next to this room. And one shower. Kind of inadequate really. And no kitchen facilities, but that was a town regulation so none of the hostels had kitchens. Fire regulations in a city of tightly packed buildings. The staff were nice and as adults we had no real issues, but, it just left us feeling a little let down. Still, it wasn’t far from the only place we could find that was affordable! And it was very convenient for the station, supermarket and sights.

All in all, Nara was a lovely place and we wish we had longer there, or less rain! There was so much else we wanted to see, and as long as we got the express train rather than the stopping everywhere train, it was not too bad for getting into Kyoto.

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Comments

[Naomi]

rained on me too!
Hi, Naomi from Geraldton here, enjoyed your Japan posts and thought I'd comment, having just got back from Japan a month ago, but mostly skiing. Spent a week in Kyoto and the day I went to Nara it rained as well. Thoroughly miserable, I bailed by lunchtime and accidentally took the all stations train back to Kyoto. Todaiji Temple was worth the trip though, and those deer were just plain aggressive, I would have thought they'd scare most small children. Still haven't managed to get to the NI, off to Wanaka for another 3 months in July. One day I shall come visit. Naomi