Oh Deer Deaux

Who would have guessed that deer would have such a prominent role in our Japan trip? After getting several recommendations from the internet and fellow travelers we’ve met over the last few days, we made the decision to spend our last full day in Kyoto in the nearby town of Nara.

Nara was Japan’s first capital city (in 710) and has an extensive history and boasts some of the oldest temples in the country. It also has deer.

Like Miyajima, deer in Nara roam free around town and are mostly friendly. You can actually purchase “deer crackers” to feed them. They are a bit larger and more tame than the Miyajima deer and they have an adorable little quirk unique to this area. They bow.

Bowing has a prominent role in Japanese cultural. Bowing is used in numerous social situations here including greetings, salutations, expressing thanks, showing respect, apologizing and many other situations. Different bows even have different names. A keirei is a light, casual bow. A saikerei is a deep formal bow used for showing an extreme level of respect. We’ve been bowing day in and day out while here just like everyone else.

Well, in Nara, the deer have picked up on this social etiquette and will bow in order to get food. It’s a learned behavior that the deer have passed down to their offspring for generations. This little trick was one of the cutest things I’ve experienced and M throughly enjoyed interacting with the deer in the park and all throughout the town.

Of course, Josh would never let us visit Nara without seeing at least one temple. The rule M and I imposed on him of one temple per day had already been broken before arriving at Nara (though, I will give him credit that the visit to Fushimi Inari Shrine - a Shinto shrine featuring thousands of torii gates (below) - was an excellent sight).

But some rules are meant to be broken and so we obliged when Josh said we had one more temple to see before leaving Nara. This turned out to be the best temple visit of the trip. Tōdai-ji (also known as the Eastern Great Temple) dates back to 738. The Great Buddha Hall (which was the really cool part) was built in 1709 and is one of the largest wooden buildings existing in world today.

Inside sits one of the largest bronze Buddha statues in the entire world. We’ve seen some big Buddhas but nothing as incredible as this one. The statue is nearly 50 feet tall and weighs over 500 tons. Every August young monks, dressed in all white, tie themselves from ropes on the ceiling to dust the statue. I imagine that is quite a sight!

The statue was originally covered in gold leaf, but damage over the centuries has removed it all. This Buddha’s hands are in a traditional position that means “fear not” and that makes sense because this statue is incredibly imposing. Even without being practitioners of Buddhism, we were all (including M) awe struck by this statute.

We also discovered another “touch and cure” type statue outside the great hall. This one was called Jizo Bodhisattva. He is said to be the embodiment of the aspiration to save people from suffering. He is a protector is women, children and travelers. And, supposedly, if you touch his body on the part that aches of yours, it will be healed. My knee was hurting again, so I tried, but unfortunately the results this time were not as notable! It was still a pretty cool find!

We also made a stop at the Nara cultural center where local volunteers helped us learn about and engage in some traditional Japanese culture. M was able to dress in a kimono and a ninja outfit. She personally requested a sumo wrestler costume but the very amused staff said, unfortunately, they did not have her size.

We also practiced folding origami but failed miserably. One of the ladies took pity on our plight and gave M a deer (what we were trying to make) that she had already folded. There was also coloring and calligraphy practice.

It was a very unique experience, super kid friendly and really focused on teaching about Japan and its people. Plus it was all completely free. This was one of the best travel finds we’ve ever discovered.

After taking our time at the cultural center, we made our way to Nara Castle for the evening Sakura Festival. M and Josh had happened upon one at Maruyama Park, a well known cherry blossom sight in Kyoto, the night before (while I stayed at hotel doing laundry - I knew, poor me, silence and alone time, boo hoo hoo).

They apparently had a blast! There was music and food vendors. Games and dancing and tons of people enjoying the cherry blossoms that were illuminated with lights and lantern-lit pathways.

They enjoyed it so much, they said I had to come too (M said that she knew I loved festivals and wanted to bring me). So Josh found this one in Nara since we were already there.

It really was a great time. We had dinner as we walked along a never ending path of food stalls. Octopus balls, ice cream, fried chicken, candied grapes, chocolate covered bananas, soba noodles, Korean corn dogs and this delicious wafer with a savory sauce, crunchies, mayo and fried egg on top.

They gave out glow sticks to the children and we even got to see the goldfish which are apparently famous here. It was a great night and we were completely exhausted when we got back to the hotel around 9:30 (a VERY late night for us).