The oldest wooden temples in the world
Trip Start
Jan 06, 2008
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26
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Trip End
Apr 18, 2008
Osaka and Nara, Kinki, Japan
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Osaka, and Nara, Japan
Having seen several great cities over the past few weeks, we decided to skip
Osaka and go instead to Japan's first and only UNESCO World Heritage
Site, the serene and historical forest town of Nara. On our way there in the
Cunard coach we drove for an hour through the main districts of
Osaka, which had been almost entirely flattened by bombs during the
Second World War and hence is now merely drab and utilitarian. During
the entire hour we did not see one single interesting building, and
of course nothing can be built higher than seven stories because of
earthquake risks. So Osaka is best skipped. The fact that the weather
was grey and drizzly only emphasised Osaka's essential
dreariness.
So onward to the ancient city of Nara and the Horyuji Temples, the oldest wooden structures in the world, mainly created in the 8th and 9th centuries to honour the teachings of Buddha. The temple precincts house seven or eight magnificent wooden temples, covered in the very
ornate roof tiles, ending in the upward sweep on the corners so evocative of Far Eastern architecture. Greenery is sparse and acres of gravel adds to the uncluttered serenity of the spacious grounds.
In the centre of the precinct stands a very beautiful, seven-storied
pagoda, said to house Buddha's holy remains. The seven stories
symbolise the seven stages of his life and teachings, and each floor
is delicately carved and decorated, with stunning calligraphic
lettering here and there. God only knows what it said. Or I daresay
Buddha knows. Our Japanese guide, Etsuko, was delightful and very
knowledgeable we think, though her accent was so strong that it was
difficult to understand her. But we bowed and smiled a lot -
and how the Japanese love to giggle! So we did a lot of that
too.
Our next stop took us to a deer forest at the edge of Nara, where one of the largest Shinto temples was built several hundred years ago. Inasfar as I understood our charming
guide, Japanese culture supports three main religions which exist in harmony - Buddhism for prayers and death; Shintoism for Nature worship and happy occasions, and Christianity for ritual and ceremony. The Japanese people are big on ceremony, and disinterested in dogma.(That reminds of my favorite screensaver I once had on my computer: "I'm sorry my Karma ran over your Dogma").
During our walk through the forest trails up to the Shinto temple, we took a look at the hundreds of carved stone lanterns which line the pathways, each with a little to place a lighted candle. The lanterns are very ancient and used nowadays only for special ceremonies, but the sight of hundreds of them lit from within must be a wonderful one. And all the while in the deep dark forest you are surrounded by many little deer, very friendly - and very Japanese, as they bow
their heads to you three times before you feed them! Once at the Shinto temple itself we watched in fascination as the Japanese took the option of either having their fortune read or writing their own prayer onto a little card and hanging it under the eaves. It was a
wonderful, and even quite a spiritual, experience. So different from the ritual and dogma which can be so typical of Western religious behaviour.
For lunch we were taken to the ultramodern Nara Hotel, built into the forest. The hotel dining room had immense picture windows overlooking a spacious, typically
Japanese garden, with red wooden arched bridge over a babbling brook,
plumtree blossom, lovely landscaping, giving an undeniable feeling of
serenity and tranquility. Mark and I couldn't resist a stroll in the
grounds, in spite of the constant light drizzle. Feeling very
tranquil and indeed serene, along comes a single but very violent
gust of wind, which flipped my umbrella inside out and ripped my
lightweight rimless glasses right off my face. Goodbye serenity. Farewell tranquilliity.
Total Panic! I cannot see without my glasses and I dare not move in
case I step on them. I yell for Mark not to move, which is tricky
because we need to move in order to find the damn things. Nothing to
do but get down on our hands and knees, in the rain, and in what must
have looked to the diners inside like some bizarre post-lunch lawn
worship, we crawled around patting the wet grass in ever-larger
circles until - miracle! - Mark found them! Unbroken! What was really
funny afterwards was that not one single person on the coach ride to
the next temple said a single word about our weird behaviour - did
they all think it was some personal grass-worship ritual we regularly
perform? Very strange indeed.
Our final destination in Nara was the magnificent Todai-Ji Temple, which houses
the biggest bronze Buddha in the world, one of Japan's National
Treasures, delicately carved ivory statuettes, gilded boxes, wooden
painted fans, etc. The Buddha dates from the 8th century, and,
staggeringly, is 15 metres high and weighs over 500 tons. Each eye is
over one metre across, and the ears are over two and half metres
high. Despite its immensity, the statue maintains its grace and
beauty, with Buddha's face depicting a benign and serene smile. I
felt compelled to reach out and touch one of the immense lotus leaves
on which Buddha sits, the lotus flower being a symbol of paradise,
just to be near the welcoming and compassionate-looking face high
above me. I really didn't want to leave.
But the QE2 called, and after another hour's drive through the endless
monochrome and functional low-rise residential and commercial
buildings of Osaka, we returned "home" to the ship. I have
become so fond of life aboard and am just beginning to realise it
will soon come to an end. How to live without freshly-laundered
sheets every night, starched white linen tablecloths (even at
breakfast!), every whim and wish catered for instantly, smiling
staff, wonderful food, dancing to a live band every night (not with
Mark, of course, but with Duncan, who is a wonderful dancer, and for
whom I have still not yet found a companion), glamorous cocktails each
evening, art classes, shuffleboard high on the windy decks, and the
constant sight and smell of the oceans from every window and
porthole. I shall miss it all so much, though I realise that of
course this is not at all a natural way to live. I shall have to come
back to earth somehow.
Saturday 22 March - a unique event in my life - we lived the same day twice! Crossing the
International Date Line we had to put our clocks and watches back 24
hours, and live the day all over again. You can just imagine the
non-stop jokes and comments about today being yesterday and tomorrow
being today. Next stop are the islands of Hawaii, then onward to California, Mexico and the transit of the Panama Canal.
