Todai-ji Temple in Nara

Nara is Japan’s first real capital.

We arrived in this small city in late afternoon while the sunset struggled to shine behind the heavy nimbus clouds. It looked it’s gonna rain any moment, but we thought it’s gonna hold up there while we were exploring Todai-ji Temple and its surroundings.

JAPAN IS THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN
We literally jumped off and ran to the gate of Todai-ji Temple because the gates were almost closing.

Todai-ji Temple (Eastern Great Temple) has the world’s largest Buddha made of bronze.

The Great eastern Temple is Nara’s main tourist attraction.

Nara is little city is also known for deers which are everywhere in the park on our way to the temple’s gate.

And guess what, the pavement smells stinky deer shit. 😀

But, who’s to be blamed? The deer? Of course, not. People keep on feeding them food, so, naturally, the deers would shit from time to time. :))

There was so much camwhoring I saw with the dear deers on our way to the gate but we had no more time. We had to go straight because it was almost closing time.

Inside the temple is…… tada….. a huge Buddha, of course! This is no different from other temples though. The enormous Buddha is an attraction in itself.

I was shocked at the temple’s commercialism. There are souvenirs shops inside, few steps from the Buddha itself. There’s not peace in there! There was no sense of sacredness and definitely not a place to pray or kowtow.

They turned it into some kind of  market and how visitors (including me) freely take photos of everything inside. It’s a bit chaotic.

Buddha must have a hard time attaining Nirvana because it’s noisy. 😉

How to get there. 
Take a public transport from Kyoto to Nara. Of if not, there are tours offered by your hostels / hotels.

 

JAPAN IS THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN