Last weekend I went on a trip to the city of Nara, which is about 1.5 hrs from where I live, with my Japanese Architecture class. Our main purpose was to visit Todaiji Temple, a really famous temple from the 8th century (most of it’s newer now though, because they’ve had to fix things) that includes what still might be the largest wooden structure in the world and also maybe the largest bronze sculpture in the world. Ooo…

Nara is known for its deer that wander around and each food out of peoples’ hands, and for the big bronze sculpture of Buddha. You can tell that by looking at the souvenir shops and seeing Hello Kitty cell phone charms that have her dressed as a deer or being held by a Buddha.

It was a really cold day, so that kind of made the trip slightly less enjoyable, but it was still really good to go there. A lot less busy than Osaka and other places. But it was sure nice to come back home Saturday night and sit in a really hot bath. (FYI: Here, instead of taking a shower or a bath, you do both. You shower first, then just sit in a deep bath that’s usually really hot. Everyone in the family will share the same water.)

Ummm… here are some pictures from my trip.

1. In Nara… a view of Todaiji from its bell tower
2. This is how close you can get to a deer.
3. Front gate to the temple
4. Me and the largest wooden structure in the world?
5. The Daibustu (aka. Big Buddha) I think it’s about 15m tall. It’s HUGE… and was made in the 8th century… amazing.
6. You can see that my class is in awe.
7. Deery.
8. Selling deer food for 150 yen.
9. Later on in the day, 3 of us went to the Nara National Museum and saw an exhibition of early Buddhist art. I wasn’t supposed to take photos but I snuck a couple.