Japan Ni Ikimashou (Nara Japan)
Image via Wikipedia
If you are traveling near Osaka (south/central) Japan you may end up in the great city of Nara.
This is near Kyoto (the old Japan capitol) or Osaka (2nd Largest City in Japan and has the Osaka International Airport). The city of Nara has a lot of temples and one famous templ
e I remember clearly was TÅdai-ji. This temple housed the great Buddha. The great Buddha was created out of iron and this was one of the reasons the government at the time used as a reason (along with spreading Buddhism) why the non-samurai had to give up their swords. Which was to help create this huge statue of iron. I believe the temple building that houses this statue is the largest wooden building in the world (according to wikipedia).
- Image by Christopher Chan via Flickr
Another fun aspect in Nara is the free roaming deer. The ones with antlers have them filed down and there are a lot walking all over. All throughout the city are vendors selling rice cakes and other treats people can feed the animals. They are pretty aggressive, but not mean. Food! My wife took my son last year and he is a pretty small kid, I can see how deer looming over him could be intimidating. Here is a pretty fun picture of him retreating from the hungry deer.
This city has also areas (and a museum) inside and near by that were run by the Yagyu clan. These were famous swordsman from the Yagyu shinkage ryu style. I will try to get some other pictures of other areas and pictures of these locations.
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Our karate group traveled to Japan back in 1985. One of the many stops we made was Nara and the Todai-ji. Our tour guide made the same comment about the building housing the iron Buddha being the largest wooden buiding as well. And she commented on the sword collecting for the iron. Interesting stuff. But mostly it were the deer that I remember. We bought rice cakes to feed them from a vendor and no sooner had we collected our deer food from the vendor than were mobbed by the deer. They’d almost knock you over to get the rice cakes. Good thing we learned how to punch and kick in our Karate classes (kidding, just kidding !).
Hmm, Aiki randori/ji waza could take on a whole new meaning in Nara now. :^)
I wonder what secret techniques the vendors have to keep from having the deer sack their carts and booths.
John
The deer agreed to a mutual arrangement (Unions?).
Very nice slice of going to Japan. I hope you will share more thoughts, stories, and photos of your visits.
Perhaps “Nara Deer Gone Bad” will soon be a You Tube video…or maybe it already is.
Kara
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