Nara - more than just deers

Although I had traveled to Osaka, I made a day trip to Nara on my first day there. It is only a 30 min. train ride away from Osaka. So, it was a natural choice for me. 😌
Nara is predominantly known for its many deers 🦌 that live in Nara Park but I found so many more things there. I started that day with visiting Tōdai-ji; a complex of temples and buildings with historical significance. First, I went to Daibutsu-den (the Great Buddha Hall) which exhibits multiple impressively huge Buddha statues. In order to get there, I was passing Nandai-mon (the Great South Gate). It is the largest temple entrance gate in Japan 🇯🇵 And I encountered already the first of many deer. They are supposed to be wild animals and there are even warning signs 🪧 to not touch them as they might do harm but in reality they are already accustomed to people. So much so, that they are conditioned to bow in order to get some cookies. 🧇
After seeing the first impressive buildings, I wondered a bit further through the park and visited Nigatsu-do. It’s an important part of the whole complex that belongs to Tōdai-ji. In 1944, it was chosen by Japan 🇯🇵 as one of the most important cultural sites of the country because it has such a long tradition associated with it: a Buddhist monk erected it and held a service known as Shuni-e (lit.  'Second-Month Service') as a devotion and confession to the Bodhisattva Kannon (one of the most popular and frequently depicted deities in Japanese Buddhism). Today it is held as an annual rite since the 8th century without any break. Talk about consistency! 😄
In those times (8th century), the region of Nara has been the capital. So there are a lot of temples and halls to visit in Nara Park 🌳 I decided to hike up to Wakakusajama hill instead. Taking the paths through the forest - away from all the people feeding the deers - was really relaxing and calming. Only once in a while I encountered a troop of 20-30 Japanese hikers 🥾 who were in some sort of guided tour in the opposite direction through the woods. At the top of Wakakusajama hill, I had an amazing view of Nara Park, all the temples and halls as well as the city itself.
Then the weather turned windy and cloudy. ☁️ Therefore I went to the Tōdai-ji museum. At the entrance, the history of Tōdai-ji was introduced by a video. The exhibition dealt with statues, paintings, works of decorative art, sutras, other religious texts, and historical documents of the Nara and Heian period (8th/9th century). I was particularly impressed by the detailed statue of the Senju Kannon (Buddhist deity) with its 11 heads and 34 arms. The exhibition was really interesting and completed my picture of Japanese history a bit more. Unfortunately, it was not allowed to take photos 📸 inside the museum. Therefore you won’t see any here in this post either. But if you want to know more about Tōdai-ji, then I can recommend their official website (https://www.todaiji.or.jp/en/information) as a starting point. There is an overview of all the buildings in Nara Park and a detailed description for each one of them.
After visiting the museum, I had pork cutlets 🐖 and a custard mochi for my late lunch. Then I took the train back to Osaka to meet another traveler for dinner and drinks.
I could really feel my legs that day since it was the second day in a row where I made almost 36.000 steps which is approximately 10.000 steps above my current daily average. 😅もっと詳しく