The Deer of Nara

Today, Ikue, Andrew, Tim and I went to Nara to see Todaiji, the home of the biggest bronze Buddha in Japan! It’s also pretty old, but due to fires and the such, what we see today was recast in the Early Nara period. We don’t know what the original statue looked like, but the base (the only part remaining) has some etchings that most scholars think show how the original looks.

Nara is pretty much famous for the Todaiji Daibutsu (Todaiji Big Buddha) and the deer. In Nara, deer are considered…pets? They’re all allowed to walk around wherever they want to. There’s a lucrative business selling deer crackers to tourist to feed the deer.

Feeding the deer

The deer are free to wander around anywhere

The Logo of Nara

Well first we wandered around, going down to a sakura park with a lake! Oh man, there were so many different types of sakura. They’re at their peak right now—and just beginning to fall, so everything looks like it’s covered in a coat of sakura petals. It’s so pretty!

The fish thought that the falling sakura petals were food and were constantly trying to eat them. This coloring on a fish is considered lucky and could be translated into English as "Calico Koi"

The hill was super steep, but I climbed up anyway for a great picture!

My view from the tree above

Random pagoda

I, to my surprise, found out that deer are very much like goats. They smell, try to eat your clothing, and can get very wild, as evidenced by this lovely sign.

 

After that we made our way over to Todaiji—the Buddha was so big!

What the original probably looked like

Komoku-ten: Guardian of the North

We went for a walk in the park and then I headed home.

Bread shaped like sakura mochi!

It's said that if you catch a sakura petal falling from the sky, you'll get good luck!