July 22, 2016 (Kyoto, Japan)

This morning was pretty laid back as we didn’t have to meet up for our tour until 1 pm. So we slept in a little and then set off for the same restaurant for breakfast that we did the day before. E wanted more milk tea and I had enjoyed the iced coffee and wanted more.

Breakfast was satisfying and afterwards, we found we had plenty of time. We decided to take the train one stop over to Gojo to catch the Gion Matsuri Parade that was about to start. This is the parade that features the floats we saw lit up two days earlier.

The procession was pretty slow and subdued as each float had actual people pulling and pushing it along on big wheels. The only music to be heard came from the occasional flute being played from atop a float. But the sidewalks were bustling with people who had staked out a good viewing spot and the streets were alive with a festive mood nonetheless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just after the parade ended, at 11:45, we hopped on a train back to Kyoto station, bought tonkatsu lunch bentos to-go, and checked in with our tour company. Bento’s are a Japanese-style lunch consisting of compartmentalized sections and typically include a main dish, rice, vegetables and a side dish. Tonkatsu is a fried pork cutlet.

The tour company was nice enough to let us eat on the tour bus.  First on the schedule, and something I was looking forward to very much was Toudai-ji Temple in Nara because our itinerary listed “10 minutes to feed the deer at Nara park”.

I was a little disappointed that we only had an allotment of 10 minutes to interact with the deer but I soon found out, that was enough.

As Grant and I were buying our deer crackers from the cracker vendor, we could feel the deer watching us and slowly approaching. They started crowding around and were already nipping at our hands before we got the package opened. The deer tugged on my clothes and nudged me with their heads, some with antlers, until I gave them a cracker. I got so scared that I tossed the pack of crackers to Grant. I’ll give the deer credit… as soon as they saw that my hands were empty, they went looking for another unsuspecting, cracker-holding victim. They immediately saw that Grant had the crackers and I got a good laugh (I laugh when I’m nervous) while photographing Grant getting mobbed by deer. The 10-pack of crackers didn’t even last a minute (the deer were pushy!) and I soon learned that ten minutes was PLENTY of time for this activity.

Supposedly, over the years, the deer have been trained to bow before receiving a cracker but we found this wasn’t so much the case. If they did bow, it was so fast that if you blinked, you’d miss it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we caught up with our tour guide who led us through Todai-ji Temple. According to (japan-guide.com), Todai-ji Temple is a complex of Buddhist temples and once made up one of the powerful 7 Great temples of Nara. This temple dates back to 752 AD and was established by Emperor Shoumu.  It is said that this temple became so powerful that the Japanese capital of Nara was moved to Nagaoka in 784 AD so that its influence on the government would lessen.

The main building is called the Great Buddha Hall and contains the world’s largest bronze Buddha Vairocana, which is known in Japan as Daibutsu, this simply means “big Buddha”. This temple is a UNESCO world Heritage Site and listed, along with 7 other sites in the city of Nara, as one of the “Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara”.

During its history, the Great Buddha Hall has burned down and been rebuilt twice. The building that stands today was completed in 1709 and though it is immense in size, 187 feet long and 160 feet wide, it is still only two-thirds the size of its previous version. According to our tour guide, the Great Buddha Hall is the largest wooden structure in the world.

Deer are protected and are free to roam the grounds of the temple because they are considered to be messengers of God in the Shinto religion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a saying at this temple that only the worthy who are light with the burdens of their karma in this life, and can pass through the nostril of the Great Buddha statue, is worthy to go to heaven. There is an actual hole in a wooden column built to the same size and you can see if you would fit through the Buddha’s nostril. There was a long line of people trying this and it was entertaining to watch. And even though my friend C urged me to try, with the promise that he would pull me through by my arms if I got stuck, I refused. I felt this nostril hole was biased against foreigners with a larger stature than the Japanese.

 

 

 

The next temple we toured was Kasuga-taisha shrine. This shrine was established in the year 768 and is the shrine of the Fujiwara family, a powerful family in the area. Bronze and Stone lanterns that line the way leading up to the shrine is what characterizes this famous structure. Kasuga-taisha is also a registered as a UNESCO Word Heritage Site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tour guide gave us a good recommendation for dinner that night. There is ramen restaurant corridor on the 10th floor of Kyoto station, called Kyoto Ramen Koji, that has restaurants featuring different styles of ramen from all over Japan. Each restaurant is dedicated to a different region of Japan and the flavor of the ramen reflects this. If you are into ramen and are in Kyoto, this place is highly recommended.

E, C, and Grant thought the ramen from Osaka looked the most appetizing so we made our order (you order and pay at a machine that spits out a ticket that is then given to the waiter once you are seated). It was delicious. Although the ramen featured black sesame and garlic oil in a Pork Bone broth, typical to Osaka style, the ramen was very mild flavored and refreshing. Not as strong or salty like the Tokyo ramen style that I’m used to.

 

 

With our stomachs full of ramen and are cheeks blushed with sunburn, we made our way back to the Apa Hotel.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017