Vacation Day 4!

Sorry for the delay in posting more of this.  I'm at least a week behind the schedule I was hoping to keep.  But the semester is winding down and I'm really working hard to bring my language grades up to ensure I get to stay a second semester.  Have to keep priorities and all of that, right?

Anyway, day four of the vacation was probably my favorite day!  Sara and I started things off by going to the Shosoin Exhibition, which is an annual event held at the Nara National Museum.  During the Shosoin, national historians make a selection of Japan's national treasures and prepares them for a public viewing.  It was an amazing exhibit, and there were items that predated what we think of as Western civilization by centuries!  It was also kind of funny to notice that Sara and I were the only foreigners in the museum that day, and it seemed like we surprised anyone that bumped into us.

The one pic I was able to take from the Shosoin.
I was very disappointed I couldn't take more,
so I bought the picture book at the shop.

Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures of any of it.  I think my favorite items were a set of three lacquered birds though.  They were very small, and very colorful.  The detailing on such small items was inspiring!  There was also a tool that I liked that's called a bukoto.  It's basically the same kind of a tool as a chalk line, used for marking long straight lines to use as guides.  The biggest difference is that it used black ink instead of chalk.  This one was interesting because it was very ornamental and stylized into a dragon's head.

There was also an interesting look into daily life of a middle management person at a monastery where Buddhist translations were done.  It was a complaint/request letter that the supervisor of a group of translators wrote requesting more time off and a sake ration for his workers.  It was pretty entertaining.

After leaving the Shosoin, we went to Todaiji Temple.  It is home to the largest statue of Buddha in the country, and is considered an international heritage site.  The Temple is in Nara park, and has some of the oldest Buddhist statues in Japan.  It was a really pretty place and the statues are amazing.

 

The outer gates of Todaiji Temple.  Home to a pair
of guardian god statues that are world renowned called
the Nio guardians.

 

Sadly, thanks to the lighting and the protective cages
around them, I wasn't able to get very good pictures of
the Nio statues.  They're pretty interesting from a
craftsmanship perspective, too.  They're actually made
from dozens of pieces of wood, each individually
carved and then fitted into place with metal pins
to make the whole statue.

 

Some of the sights on the walk up to the inner gate
at the temple.  It was very pretty, and featured
is a perfect example of Buddhist architecture
in Japan.

 

The view from the front of the temple
and the walkway up to it.  There's the
traditional hand washing spot on the right
in the picture, and a stone lantern in the
middle of the walkway, as well.

 

This is the Great Buddha of Todaiji.  The statue is huge.
The statue itself is almost 50 feet tall and is the largest
bronze Buddha in the world.  The Temple itself is around
150 feet tall, and until around 2000, was the world's largest
wooden building.  The picture on the left is one of the lotus
petals from the Buddha's pedestal.  It's inlaid with intricate
Buddhist script and imagery in gold. 

 

The great Buddha is flanked on either side by
two other statues of Buddhist disciples.
The other statues seemed a lot more detailed,
but were also not as old.  Each statue had its
own prayer shrine, as well, since each one
is supposed to be used as the focus for a
different kind of prayer.

 

The two guardian statues of the Temple.
I love the influences of Shinto that these
kinds of statues show, or maybe its the
other way around and you can see the
influence of Buddhism on Shinto through
these kinds of things.  Either way, it is an
interesting variation of Buddhism,
which traditionally doesn't worship or revere
any gods.

Once we left Todaiji, we headed for the next shrine I really wanted to visit.  This is the shrine where the storm god, whom I've written about in a previous post, is enshrined.  It was a little bit out of the way, and we had to take a train ride to the town of Tenri, then catch a cab from that station to the shrine.  This was a much more rural shrine, and it was very powerful feeling, while the others had felt sterile as I put it recently.

The gate way into the Iso no Kami shrine.
This is where I opened up and felt the life of
this shrine.  I haven't felt anything like that
in a very long time.  It was moving.

 

As mentioned, the Iso no Kami shrine was much more rural
than the others we saw.  We were greeted at the gate's
stamp station by this rooster that was just hanging out.
There were other roosters and ducks hanging around the
entry area into the shrines as well.

 

For being the shrine of the God of Storms, this
is a pretty modest place!  The shrine itself was
beautiful, as was the building around it.
However, it was much smaller, and much less
opulent than some of the others that we visited
during the trip.  I think that's part of what added
to the power and feeling of the place though.
it didn't need all of that to give it the spiritual
weight that it had.

Supposedly, in the middle of the shrine there
in the heart of the building, is the broken sword
and soul of O-Sasunoo, the God of Storms,
Brother to Amaterasu the Sun Goddess.  I prayed
at the altar, and couldn't have felt better doing it.

 

The inner gate that led into the Shrine's grounds.
The second picture is where the remains of other
people's fortunes and prayers from last year hang.
I'm looking forward to taking part in this ritual
more than I probably should be!

This was the first place I've actually prayed in a very long time, and I'm planning to go back for the traditionally Shinto New Year's ritual.  The ritual consists of visiting a Shinto shrine such as this one and praying, then writing a script on paper that's basically a listing of all of the things from the previous year you wish you could let go of or move on with.  You tie the slip of paper up to a tree, or special place on the Shrine's grounds, and the weather destroys it, destroying the worries as well.  Leaving the stains of the last year in the hands of the kami and the world to wash away will feel good.

As we were leaving the shrine, we noticed that there was a waterfall on the map of some local hiking paths.  After a little discussion, we decided to try to make it there before sundown.  It turned into an adventure that was well worth it!

 

The hike led us past some Japanese fields,
into a much more rural hillside village area.
It was a huge change from the heavily
populated urban areas where I've spent most
of my time here in Japan.  I kind of liked it.

 

This Momoo Falls, near Tenri.  It was about
45 minutes or so on foot to get to the falls.
We found out afterwards that we probably
could've taken a bus up the mountain,
which thankfully we were able to take back
down to town instead of walking after dark.

After walking around the falls and taking pictures for a while, we were lucky enough to find a bus stop and catch a bus back to Tenri, then the train back to Nara for the last night there.  We ended up having another non-Japanese meal, this time burgers at a little touristy place right off of the main shopping area around Nara station.

It was a very busy, long, but exciting and fulfilling day!  I have two more days to write about, and hopefully I'll be able to get them down sooner than later.  Sorry to everyone that's reading that it's taken me this long to get the entirety of my vacation posted, but I hope you're enjoying the detailed accounts more than just a random picture dump!

Day 3 of the Vacation, and a bonus Ninja Castle!

Today is a relaxing Sunday in the dorm.  Kind of.  I've talked to my mom a bit, which was nice.  I've been cleaning, which I'm taking a break from now to get this and a few other less active things crossed off of my to-do list, which for once I actually have written out so I don't forget anything.

Yesterday was a field trip to Iga Prefecture, which is home to one of the most renowned ninja training grounds from feudal Japan.  Yes, ninja were real.  They didn't have magical abilities or anything of that nature, but they were very able combatants and absolute masters of subterfuge and guerrilla warfare.  The castle was cool because it showcased a lot of the weapons and armor that the feudal lords of the region used.  I especially liked the ninja weapons displays, since they're kind of rare to see.  Some of the more simple tools they had that weren't combat related were pretty genius as well.

The field trip started off with a stop at a silk museum, since that region is noted for the silk production there.  They let us take a bunch of pictures and make some bracelets.  This was at the Iga Kumihimo Center.

 

We started off making these bracelets.
The way their table worked made me really
want to make one for the knotwork jewelry stuff
that I make.  It usually takes me anywhere from
45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on
what I'm making.  This was the first time I've made
anything like this and it took me about 30 minutes.

 

Some things from the museum at the silk place.
Their silk products were used to make anything
from rope, to ties, belts, and even the cords used
to bind together o-yoroi.

After the silk museum, we went to lunch, which was fun because on the bus ride, I made a few new Japanese friends.  After lunch, we went on to Ueno Park, a ninja museum that has Iga Ueno Castle within it.  It was kind of out of the way, in the middle of a mountain valley.  The castle was very cool, but smaller than the other ones I've visited.  On the upside, the museum there included a ton of arms and armor, and we were actually allowed to take pictures!

 

Just like any other historical place, the village
and castle had shrines very close by.  I especially enjoyed
the tori gates that led up to them here.  Not all of them
include those, and I think they're always beautiful.

 

Some of my favorite things I've seen in person now.
Ninja weapons and tools, including one of my favorites,
the kusari-gama.  It's the sickle shaped blade with the ball
and chain attached to it.  It is one of the most subtly effective
weapons ever invented, and credit for it goes almost entirely
to ninja clans like this one.

 

As I said, Iga Ueno castle isn't one of the bigger
ones I've been to, but it was still very pretty.
Especially with the leaves starting to change around it!

 

As I mentioned, some of my favorite parts of this
castle were the collections of weapons and armor!
Here are a few examples of what I was talking about.
The sword displays were all beautiful, and there were
a large number of other varieties of weapons, which
I hadn't seen anywhere since I'd been in Japan.

 

One of the most outstanding things
about this castle's displays was that you
can see that these aren't merely for show.
For instance, the darker of these two sets
of armor has visible damage from black
powder bullets.  I feel bad for the guy that
wore it, but I guess having some cracked ribs
is better than actually having a musket ball
lodged in your lung!

 

So much beautifully crafted and detailed armor!

Those are the highlights of the field trip.  It was a lot of fun, even if it was an all day affair and the bus trip back to campus took about an extra hour because of some kind of accident or something on the freeway.  After getting back, some of us went out to have ramen at our favorite Chinese place and a few drinks, which was a lot of fun!  And we have a house party planned for a few weeks from now, so that should be fun!

* * * * * * *

Flashback time!

Day three of the vacation was spent in Nara, which is famous here for its deer park.  As someone from the Midwest in the U.S., the idea of feeding, petting, and revering dear is pretty foreign.  At home, they're a pest that we hunt and kill for population control and for food, or even just for sport.  Not that I support sport hunting much, but if you're putting the animal to use, I've got no problem with hunting.  That made it a little strange when I got here and deer would literally walk up to you and bite at your clothing to get your attention to see if you had food for them.

When we first got to the park, there was a local festival that was a lot like the country fairs at home.  There was a stage set up and they had local entertainers on it, there was a magician entertaining kids, and there were tons of stalls with local foods around the park.  The whole area was busy because this week was the only time in the year that the Japanese government puts on what is known as the Shosoin exibit.  Each year, they select a handful of the artifacts from the Shosoin (the national treasure house) and put them on display for the public.

 

These are pics from the festival.  It was very much
like the festivals in smaller towns in the mid-
west back home.  It was pretty cool to see.

 

The deer here were pretty interesting.  Turns out
this is all the way it is because Buddhists believe
deer are messengers of the gods, and used to bow
to them and feed them.  Now some of the deer will
walk up, and if you bow to them, they'll half bow back
to you in exchange for the hard wheat crackers that
are sold all over the park.

 

The first place in Nara we went was through the deer
part.  It was an old Shinto shrine called Kasuga.  It was
beautiful, but the spirit of the place felt dead.  I'll attribute
it to being a very popular tourist attraction.

 

While the shrine wasn't really that exciting to me other
than for appearances, it did showcase one of my favorite
Shinto practices.  When the Japanese people go to shrines,
they often get fortunes.  Apparently, when you get one,
you tie it to one of these sorts of places, or into a tree.
The same sort of thing is done over New Year's.
The Japanese write down something they want to
let go of in the new year onto a slip of prayer paper,
then leave it tied to a specific area of the shrine.
When the weather has destroyed the prayer, you
are supposed to be free of whatever you'd written on it.

 

Some of the views from Wakakusayama, the lookout mountain
we visited.  In the second picture, you can see the roof of
one Todaiji Temple, which we would visit the next day.

After leaving the mountain, we stopped in a museum full of ancient Buddhist artifacts and art, including some of the most famous sculptures from the 730s here in Japan.  Seeing wooden art that was that old really blew my mind.  It was history that predated the country I'm from being settled by my ancestors by more than 700 years.  It was awe inspiring.  Sadly, due to the age of the materials, we weren't allowed to take any pictures.  

That pretty much wrapped up day three.  We took our time making it back to the place we stayed for the night.  We found a place to have some Italian, had pasta there, but we weren't full, so we grabbed a pizza to go.  Sat back at the room and watched an episode of an anime and called it an early night.  Day 4 turned out to be really busy!

That's all from me for now!  I'll post again later tonight if I have time, or maybe tomorrow again. I still have three more days of vacation to post!