After lunch on our last day in Kyoto, we boarded the train to Nara for a short jaunt. Nara is well known for it’s huge temple, Todai-ji, which houses the worlds’ largest bronze Buddha, as well as its many deer roaming the park. The original temple construction was started in 728 AD, and although the current building is significantly smaller than the original, until 1998 it was the largest wooden building in the world.
In the Shinto religion, deer are messengers of the gods
But these deer are more interested in eating the delicious rice crackers offered to them
The daibutsu (giant Buddha) resides in this massive wooden building
The entrance way fills with smoke from the incense
It’s near impossible to show the scale of the Buddha. It’s just shy of 15 m tall, and his ears are 2.5 m long!
There are a bunch of bronze statues around Daibutsu
And of course, you can write prayers on the wooden ema
Back outside, we have more deer to admire
They roam freely around the temple, harassing the food hawkers
We don’t have rice crackers so are left alone, but this friendly deer was happy for a pat
