More Temples and Animal Adventures in Kyoto!

Tuesday was another gray rainy day in Kyoto. Apparently our trip coincided with Typhoon #15, which was the cause for our lovely weather. Jake and I were determined to make the best of it, so we rolled up our pants, grabbed our rain coats and umbrellas and headed out anyway.

We took the hotel shuttle back to Kyoto station (which, for some unknown reason, I consistently call "the airport"), and from there we caught the train to Nara. Nara is about an hour away from Kyoto, and it's known for two things. 1: the many beautiful temples and shrines that can be found there. and 2: Deer. Nara is filled with these deer, that just roam around everywhere you go! Their antlers are trimmed down, and they seem very calm (sedated?) for wild deer. It's so crazy that you can just walk right up to them, and they don't run away.

The main thing that Jake and I wanted to see in Nara was Todai-Ji, which was 2.3 km from the station. Despite the rain, we opted to walk rather than grab a bus. On the way there, we passed through Kofuku-ji, a huge temple complex. Kofuku-ji used to be made up of over 125 buildings, however only twelve are left standing today. The most impressive is the beautiful 5 story Pagoda.

Leading up to Todai-Ji is a road lined with small vendor stalls selling souvenirs, deer cookies (for the deer, not people) and, Jake's favorite, Green Tea ice cream. Jake wanted a cone, so we stopped and got some. We stood just in front of the stall, and ate our ice cream, while we watched two tourists feed the deer. We were laughing at how bold the deer were. These poor tourists were quickly surrounded by deer, and the woman, who was holding the food, was getting nipped in the butt by deer who thought she wasn't giving out the food fast enough! The people quickly finished up and hurried along down the road. At this point, one of the deer glanced in our direction, and decided that maybe he would like some ice cream as well! He looked us dead in the eye, and started walking towards us, ever so slowly. Jake and I didn't know what to do, so we just sort of backed up into the stall, and eventually Jake had to hold his umbrella out in front of him to hold the deer off! Just as the deer was about to actually come into the stall with us, the woman running the place came running out from behind us, banging the ground with a huge stick and yelling at the deer to scare him away! Then she turned to us, and calmly said "So sorry!" We couldn't help but laugh, and we decided it was best to throw the rest of our ice cream away and head for the temple.

The main hall of Todai-Ji is the largest wooden structure in the world. Contained within is one of the largest bronze statues in the world, a Daibatsu standing almost 16 meters tall. The building is set up so that you can walk all the way around the statue. It's an amazing thing to see, and one of my favorite parts of Japan so far.

After Todai-ji, we headed back to the station, and from there took a train to Inari, where we visited Fushimi-Inari Taisha. This is one of the craziest sights I have ever seen. It is a series of tunnels made out of bright vermilion tori gates, each carved with a unique inscription. Jake and I had a great time walking through the tunnels, although the rain did make it a bit treacherous at times. Fushimi-Inari Taisha is built into the side of a mountain, so there are lots of steep stone staircases that need to be climbed, and when they get wet, they get slippery! Luckily we made it through without any accidents.

By this time it was starting to get dark, so we headed back to Kyoto. We were both grateful to get back to the hotel and into dry clothes.