Blue skies in Nara
Nara park is huge. You can easily spend an entire day here exploring the shrines, museums, and trail network that connects the sites through a combination of open and wooded spaces. The most impressive of Nara‘s sites is the enormous Todai-ji, the world’s largest wooden building. It’s hard to fully appreciate its size until you step inside and stand beside the tree-sized pillars that support the structure. The building houses one of the world’s largest bronze Buddhas, also difficult to put in perspective. The statue was built in 751 and the current building in 1709. A model replica of the original building, completed in 745, is displayed next to the current one, amazingly dwarfed by the original by 2/3rds!
From Todai-ji I walked up the hill to some other large shrines and admired the view of Nara plain on this perfect winter day. The shrines of Nara are impressive, but the highlight of my day was hiking a forest trail up Mount Mikasa. This natural forest is a real treat when compared to the methodically planted industrial cedar forests that dominate much of Japan ‘s mountains.
I didn’t intend to do the whole hike, but met a Japanese man along the way who has lived overseas in America and Australia for 15 years. We enjoyed a great conversation as we hiked along at a terrific pace. By the time I got back down to the trailhead I barely had enough energy to limp through Kasuga Taisha Shine, last night’s camping spot.
My feet had had enough. I enjoyed a beautiful day in Nara and it was time to start the trip back to Tokyo. If I got on the train early enough I could possibly get home by late evening. As I sit on the train now, I know I’ll be cutting it close.
Tags: Capitals tour of Asia, Japan on the cheap
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