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nara was the first japanese capital, and apparently packed full of ancient temples and tourist sites, so i was quite resistant to the idea of visiting at all. even the thought of temples precipitated a dull ache between my own. g's sister, however, had highly recommended it, and we all know that little brothers have no choice but to obey their big sisters, so off we went.
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there were the usual pagodas and temples, but the difference was that this city was chock-a-block full of deer. rank deer. deer were apparently messengers of the gods, so now they run amok throughout the city parks and temple grounds like cows in varanesi. the city is so smitten with them that the symbol of nara is a buddha with deer antlers, which g and i found awful beyond description.
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you could smell the deer before you saw them, and though i was somewhat taken by the cute things, g (after a previous night of tekken tag tournament with pottsie and kanami) was ready to do a double backflip roundhouse to the nearest doe-eyed face or neck. KO!
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the largest wooden building in the world is in nara, and it was indeed beautiful. within, a huge seated statue of buddha blissed out, nostrils the size of a human pelvis plus 5 millimetres.
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the action, however, lay at the back of the building behind the statue. here, in one of the huge wooden pillars supporting the roof, a hole the size of the statue of buddha's nostril had been carved through the pillar. legend has it that people who can pass through the hole are assured of attaining nirvana! check out my attempt below.
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oh man i was so blissed out after doing it! it made the whole trip to nara worth it. i entered a state of nirvana and couldn't get the smile off my face until we got hugely ripped off for a french-fries meal deal at MOS burger down the road.
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and then, after zenning out in some gorgeous gardens (free for foreign tourists but not for japanese - how would you feel if you were local?) we headed back to osaka!
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