One of Leo’s lock-ins at the Trello board session a couple of months ago was a day trip to Nara, a city an hour or so from Kyoto. Nara is home to Kasuga Taisha shrine, Todaiji temple and over 1000 well-fed and friendly deer (Leo’s real motivation for visiting!).
Nara was established as Japan's first permanent capital in 710. Before then, the capital moved whenever a new emperor took the throne. It didn’t last long though - the government made Nagaoka capital in 784 when they became concerned about the power and influence of the Buddhist monasteries, which can still be seen in the shrine and temple we visited.
Walking up to Kasuga Taisha Shrine we saw a few ‘horse people’, Leo’s name for the extremely fit looking rickshaw ‘drivers’, and deer everywhere. The bolder (hungrier?) deer hang out near the cracker sellers ready and waiting, while others relax in the shade of the trees or in amongst the stone lanterns around the pathways.
We enjoyed wandering around the deer-free shrine admiring the hundreds of bronze lanterns. Until we got hungry and keen to get our own deer crackers to feed them ourselves.
The first few deer we came across were gentle and polite. They’re tame and cleverer than I’d realised. Some have learned to bow to ask for food. They also understand that you’ve run out of crackers when you put empty hands in the air. And a pat seems to be accepted as part of the deal in return for food.
The closer we got to the main cracker sellers near the entrance to the park the more assertive the deer. They’ll happily nip and head butt you (reasonably gently) to get your attention. Eleanor wasn’t thrilled to be surrounded by a cluster of deer all demanding food and I didn’t love being nipped on the bum! She wound up getting rid of them by dropping most of the crackers on the ground, much to her disappointment. Just as well I had a few spares. Adrian and Leo found it all highly amusing!
Todaiji Temple is absolutely huge - one of the world’s largest wooden buildings (incredible given that when it was last reconstructed they reduced the size by a third!). It needs to be big because it’s home to a 15 metre tall bronze sitting Buddha. I know I’ve used the word ‘striking’ several times already to describe the amazing things we’re seeing, and I will again hear.
I was on choosing a restaurant for dinner that night. When we joined the very long queue for the katsu restaurant I’d picked out, we were reminded that if you want to guarantee a table at the place you actually want to eat it’s a very good idea to get a reservation. We wound up eating at a cheap and cheerful cod rowe pasta specialist restaurant. Turns out that cod rowe carbonara isn’t as bad as you might think according to Eleanor and Leo.
The next morning we packed up ready for
Osaka then squeezed in a quick visit to Nijo Castle, the Kyoto residence of the Tokogawa shoguns.
We all agreed that this is our favourite shrine/temple/castle so far. It has these unique ‘nightingale floors’ that squeak (like a bird) when you walking on them. Depending on which guide you read, they were designed that way to alert inhabitants to intruders, or the bolts in the floor have become squeaky over time. We’re going with the former explanation because we like it better! There is also some amazing and interesting art in the various rooms of the palace.
Osaka isn’t far from Kyoto - 30 minutes by train. It is different though, younger, grungier and edgier somehow.
I suggested that we walk from the station to the hotel. It seemed a good idea when we thought it was 28 minutes away, but the station exit we picked meant it was closer to 50 minutes. Not quite so fun with our big bags, although we did get to see a little more of Osaka from above ground.
We still had some spare time in the afternoon, so the kids voted for a visit to the instant ramen museum. It’s a bit hard to fully understand the story because it’s all in Japanese, but we had lots of fun decorating our noodle cups and designing our own flavour combinations. My tomato chilli chicken noodles were easily the best.
Our day ended with a short pre-dinner river cruise at Dotonbori. Leo in particular loved seeing the city from a different perspective.
Wandering in Nara Park, and Kasuga Taisha shrine.
New friends!
Todaiji Temple.
Dotonbori, Osaka
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