God, Deer & Biscuits

An hour’s journey west of Osaka is the former capital of Japan, Nara.  It was whilst making this particular journey we made huge progress in understanding the ridiculously complex process of waiting on the platforms.  The Japanese do not merely hang about haphazardly for the next train, instead they follow complex markings of shapes and numbers on the platform showing them where to queue in orderly, straight lines. This does have quite a satisfying result – the train doors always open right in front of you but it is just a touch anal and reflects the most organised society I have ever witnessed.  There are even traffic lights to cross four foot wide back alleys and countless signs showing how to behave in an orderly manner – it has been a little bit of a culture shock for me (although it would make the Metro back home more relaxing)!

Nara Park

Eating the map after the attack

Against a backdrop of forested hills Nara is far more attractive and relaxed than its more famous neighbours, Osaka and Kyoto, and boasts some beautiful temples and parks.  These are full of tame deer and when we sat down to eat our standard lunch of boxed sushi from 7-11 we were set upon, losing our map in the surprise attack but thankfully escaping with our lunch.  It is believed that the god of the Kasuga Taisha temple came riding into the park on a white deer and as such they are now regarded as the messengers of god in the Shinto religion.   Nowadays they roam the park and Buddhist shrines with immunity whilst causing fear among anybody eating remotely near them and most people chose to buy ‘deer biscuits’ to distract them from their lunch- God has taken a real keen interest in biscuits it would appear! 

The Daibutsu

The temple of the Daibutsu

The highlight of the visit was seeing the world’s largest bronze statue of Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese as Daibutsu.   The Daibutsu nearly bankrupt Japan when it was built in 751AD and until recently was housed in the world’s largest wooden building (this was surpassed by a Japanese stadium) shaped like Samurai head gear.  The Daibutsu is an intimidating sight as it gazes down upon you from between the huge wooden pillars and clouds of intoxicating incense smoke.  As we left the temple the rain clouds gathered overhead and the wind picked up, scattering the blossoms like a snow storm across the park. We quickly headed back to the station to escape the oncoming down pour and any further assault by the deer.