Our overnight trip to Nara featured many deer and many Buddhas (bodhisattva, wisdom kings and heavenly entities).
The World’s Largest Buddha Statuary
For our ninth day we took the local train from Osaka into Nara where we’d be spending just one night. When we arrived we immediately loved the vibes – much quieter than we’d experienced in Osaka.
We dropped our luggage off and headed back to the Nara train station area for a quick coffee and snack before we ventured off into the main area, Nara Park.
Nara Park is large area (660 hectares including the surrounding shrines and Nara National Museum) so we knew we’d have a lot to explore. We wandered along paths and saw a few shrines before we arrived at one of our main activities for the day, the Nara National Museum.
The museum was another fantastic activity for us because:
- There were some incredible items on display
- The layout was super easy to follow
- It was so quiet the day we were visiting. Whilst the grounds were full of tourists feeding deer, it was as if they didn’t know the museum was open.
The museum was built in 1889, specifically to house buddhist art from primarily the Nara region. A lot of the artwork couldn’t be photographed so we only have a couple of photos from inside. Chris also made the mistake of pulling out his water bottle for a drink and within 2 seconds a security guard was on to him.
We were helpfully given a guide to explain the difference between the different statues. There are Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Wisdom Kings and Heavenly Entities. Buddhas have simple clothes, a “cranial bump” (to house the extra brain required for enlightenment) and are usually sitting on a lotus flower. Bodhisattvas look very similar to Buddhas, but are bejewelled. They have calm, inviting faces and are there to help. Wisdom Kings have scary facial expressions and exist to remind believers of the path. Heavenly entities can take many forms, most have bulging muscles, armour and/or robes with big sleeves.
Oh Deer!
When we finished up at the museum we wandered around for some food. We found the prices of food around Nara Park to be shockingly expensive (~2-3 times what you’d normally pay for food) so we left the park area for a bit.
Truthfully the fatigue of endless walking was catching up to us so we decided to grab a coffee and sit and watch the deer for a bit. Nara Park is covered in deer (it has the nickname “deer park”) who are pretty friendly but love snacks. We had endless fun watching the deer chase after and have a bite of people if they knew that they were holding a snack.
After getting our fix of deer watching, we wandered back to the hotel, taking in a few more sights along the way. We stumbled past a ramen place (best ramen we’ve had and also the largest!).
It’s become clear that we’re running ourselves down a bit from the endless walking with our backpacks. Our backs are pretty sore and we’re surviving off heat pads and Voltaren. We head off to Kyoto tomorrow but will likely change our plans and take an easy day to rest and maybe get a massage.
Chris and Chantal 