Nara
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Over a thousand sika deer roam freely around the park. Once considered divine and sacred, they are today protected as national treasures.
Among the structures within the park is Tōdai-ji, a Buddhist temple founded in 752. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. This is a detail of the great southern gate, Nandai-mon, leading to the Great Buddha Hall. The gate itself is a massive structure, constructed entirely without the use of nails.
Another detail of the main southern gate
View looking up from under the roof of the main gate
School children are among the many visitors who come to study the history of the temple.
Viewed from within the temple complex, this is Chu-mon, the Inner Gate. This gate and its adjoining roofed corridors enclose the Great Buddha Hall.
A view of the Great Buddha Hall, or Daibutsen. Twice ravaged by fire, it was rebuilt most recently in 1709. The original structure was larger still by about one third of the present size. Despite the current hall's smaller size, it is considered to be the largest wooden structure in the world. It, too, was built without the use of nails.
Detail of the Great Buddha Hall
Among the figures on this octagonal lantern outside the entrance to the Great Buddha Hall is a boddhisatva playing a flute. The lantern dates from the 8th century.
The Great Buddha Hall, Daibutsuden
The Great Buddha, some 50 feet in height, is one of Japan's largest bronze sculptures.
Sixteen miniature Buddhas appear on the halo behind the Great Buddha. They are known as Shakamuni Buddhas, each representing an incarnation of the Great Buddha himself, with the number 16 here meant to represent infinity, symbolizing the number of Shakamuni Buddhas in the Buddhist vision of the universe.
Two butterflies perch at the sides of a large bronze sculpture of an urn containing lotuses.
The butterflies have eight legs, not the usual six, reflecting the fact that these butterflies live in the realm of the Great Buddha Hall, which is not the same world in which we live.
Komokuten, one of Four Heavenly Guardian Kings and one of two guardian figures that stand to either side behind the Great Buddha. He is also a calligrapher, holding a lettering brush in his right hand and a scroll in his left.
Tamonten is another of the Four Heavenly Guardian Kings. A symbolic defender of Buddhism, he holds a pagoda in his right hand and a trident in his left.
The guardian figure Kannon (Nyoirin Kannon Bosatsu), bodhisattva of compassion and mercy. We are indebted to our most helpful guide, Kinuko Yura of Nara YMCA EGG volunteer guides services, who related, among many of the other details found within these captions, that the Japanese camera company, Canon, is actually named after this bodhisattva.
Students and tourists outside the Great Buddha Hall
Just outside the Great Buddha Hall, this seated wooden figure with crystal eyes is Binzuru (St. Pindola in Sanskrit), who was the leader of Buddha's 16 disciples. Though he achieved the highest sainthood, spreading and sharing Buddha's teachings, his display of self-importance before the people led the Buddha to order him to remain seated outside the temple. A common belief is that rubbing a part of his body will cure any pain or illness in the corresponding part of one's own body. His cap and bib were given by people whose sicknesses were cured. Paint originally covering him has all but disappeared over the years.
A pond within Nara Park
Trees within the park
Group-portrait-taking at the Nara Park bus stop
Also within Nara Park is Kōfuku-ji, a Buddhist temple founded in 669 and originally located in Kyoto. It was moved to its present location in 710, when Nara was the national capital.
The five-story pagoda, Gojū-no-tō, is one of the temple's National Treasures.
