Feeding the Deer in Nara

On June 6, 2012, my summer program with the University of Missouri began in the cafeteria common area of the Nara Seishonen-Kaikan youth hostel with 10 of my fellow Mizzou students, our student leader, Christian, and our program leader, Professor Martin Holman, the head of the Japanese department at MU. We held a short program meeting to go over the itinerary for the remainder of our summer, a preliminary one at least, detailing how long we would be on the move and when we would finally settle down with our host families in Iida of Nagano prefecture, on June 25.

My companions and I had arrived in Nara about a day prior to the start of the program and needless to say that we were still so charged with the excitement of being in a new country that we didn't sit idly by while we waited for our sensei to arrive. After our first order of business being to locate our food source, the Lawson's convenience center just down the street past a middle school, and our cash reserves, the international ATM at the 7-11 in downtown Nara, we explored the myriad of cultural landmarks that dot the city of Nara. Little did we know that we would later be repeating our adventures as many of the sites we visited, we would see again as part of the program, and then I would later visit these shrines a third time in my tenure at the Japan Center for Michigan Universities.

Chief among the shrines in Nara is the Buddhist Todai-ji, the Eastern Great Temple, the largest wooden structure in the world despite the fact that it is now a fraction of it's former size. Besides it's vast dimensions, another reason this stands as the most popular spot in the city is that it is also home to the Daibutsu, or Great Buddha. It is the largest bronze statue of the Buddha in the world and stands at a towering 49 feet tall. Originally the temple had two 100-meter-tall pagodas, who in their prime rivaled the pyramids of Egypt as the tallest structures in the world.

While Nara is home to a host of important cultural landmarks, perhaps what the city is most famous for is the shika deer. The deer, regarded as messengers of the gods in the Shinto religion, roam temple grounds freely. It is quite the attraction to be able to pet and feed the deer with specialty cookies sold from countless vendors around the temple. Although all the deer have their antlers removed by city workers, it is not surprising to see the deer mobbing visitors and biting at pockets for food. In fact, when it's not happening to you it is one of the funniest sites to see.

After visiting the primary temples in Nara, our program activities were concluded for the day and we were free to return to the hostel, but a few of us, myself, John and our friend Kristin, were feeling adventurous and decided to go on a three kilometer hike around the mountain to the top of Wakayama hill. We underestimated what three kilometers up a mountain actually was and I had neglected to bring water, so we spent the better part of the afternoon and evening making it to the top of this mountain.

But man, was it worth it. We reached the top, an overlook we later found out we could've drove to, the fact none of us could drive was moot, right at twilight. The view of Nara at this time is when I started to fall in love with the city. It was transcendentally beautiful with the rosy hue of the setting sun stretched out over the contrasting dark mountains causing the city to glow.

Useful phrase in this week's post:

Daibutsu - だいぶつ - 大仏

meaning: Great Buddha