nara_temple2

mostly we just went to nara temple, another very famous temple in japan.

nara_temple1

imposing.

nara_templegate

here is the temple gate. it had a cool story.

nara_templeguard

it was guarded by two demons, one on each side. the one on the left was mouthing "ah" and this one, on the right, was mouthing "nn". these are the first and last characters in the japanese syllabary, so it was kind of an alpha-omega...

nara_cleansing

before visitors enter the temple, they must wash their hands in this area.

nara_buddhafront1

this is what you see right when you walk inside... a massive buddha. there is a story about a man crawling out one of his nostrils so... it's big.

nara_boddhitsatva

there were also boddhitsatvas on either side of the buddha.

nara_buddhas

but he still wins the size competition.

nara_templeorig

this is a model of the original nara temple. apparently it burned down once.

nara_pillar1

so the hole in this pillar is the same size as the buddha's nostril. you're supposed to crawl through it and it will make you smarter. i could talk for an hour about the story behind it and the story of crawling through it, but i don't have room here.

nara2_deer1

one of the temples had very tame deer roaming the grounds freely. i think it was nara but don't quote me on that.

nara3_temple1

here is a secondary temple we went to in nara, which is kind of the temple capital of japan.

nara3_temple2

non-monks were only allowed to view the buddha from afar, so there was a hole cut so you could see his face.

nara3_temple3

incidentally, there is a pretty good replica of this temple that i happened across in hawaii. check out the hawaii album and imagine how surreal that was.

nara3_vines

another "artsy" shot of this cool bamboo/vine structure that formed a big pavillion outside the temple.