Balderdash

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Japan trip
Day 8 - 13th June - Todai-ji; Nara (Part 4)

Todaiji is huge. It's the largest wooden building in the world. Yet, this building is 2/3 the size of the original. Go figure.

Schoolchildren passively giving themselves lung cancer, but it's alright because when they grow up they'll smoke cigarettes anyway (well, the boys at least)

Approach to main building

Lantern

"Photos are permitted". I loved this place's photography policy, which was extremely refreshing - only tripods were forbidden; flash photography was alright. Just for that, it got the "Bagus!" stamp of approval from me

Washup point, with the helpful sign: "water for washing and drinking"

Entrance to main building

Roof overhang

A couple passively giving themselves lung cancer

Schoolboy actively giving himself lung cancer (notice he's waving the smoke into himself). After I took this picture the boy nudged one schoolgirl while chattering to her, and she turned around. Apparently he thought I was trying to take a spyshot of her. I was vaguely insulted, because she was quite ugly, so I hurriedly gestured that I was capturing his actions instead, whereupon he obligingly fanned himself a few more times (though I didn't snap that).

The Giant Buddha. Big as it is (14.98m tall), it cannot compare to the one in Ushiku (120m):

But that's from 1995. Pfft.

"The Lotus Petals of the Great Buddha's Pedestal (Full-Scale Replica)"

Gong

Buddha from side

Kokuuzo-bosatsu

Koumoku-ten

Scale model of original Todai-ji, with 2 pagodas flanking the Daibutsu-den (main building)

Back of Buddha's "throne"

The Ema (wooden prayer plaques) here were Y600 - a 20% premium!

Heads - leftover from the last reconstruction?

Back of smaller Buddha's throne

Schoolgirl squeezing through a hole in a pillar. If you manage to squeeze through the hole (the same size as one of the Great Buddha's nostrils), you're supposed to get enlightenment. Weighing the fruits of enlightenment and the chance to acquire the necessary wisdom to solve world hunger, achieve world peace and end the misery of the human condition vs the possibility of having the fire brigade come down to extricate me, I decided not to try my luck.

Tamon-ten

"Would you donate tiles for temple restoration? 1,000 yen for one tile. Please write the date, your name, address, country and wish on the tile to be secured forever at Todaiji-Temple. This will bring eternal happiness. Thank you."
If you look at the sample prayers, you find examples like "World Peace", "Healthy spirit and healthy body", "Safe wishes for the family" and "Be careful of fire" ("火の用心"). There is only one wealth-related wish. A Chinese temple, on the other hand...

"Protect contactless IC cards from reading errors with IC Card Protector". You also can choose from blessings such as traffic safety and success in studies.

"Binzuru, 18th cent... It is commonly believed in Japan that when a person rubs a part of the image of Binzuru and then rubs the corresponding part of his own body, his ailment there will disappear"
Given that people have been touching it for 2 centuries, it's a wonder the statue is still intact. I wanted to touch the head but I couldn't reach it (maybe that's why he has a surgical cap on - so you can't touch it) - apparently this Binzuru is for lower body ailments only, so I rubbed the deformed appendage I assumed was his foot.

Leaving the main building

When I saw this I thought it was a photograph of some festive celebration. Since then I have grown in wisdom and knowledge and now know it was their renovation ceremony in 1991.

"This T-shirt is original goods of Todaiji. You're not able to buy another shop"

The "treat a child through deer therapy" foundation

Act-cute deer

[Addendum:

Someone: there's a pun on this words here
the 2 words that are marked with the spiral means "shika"=deer

the whole sentence "kore shika nai ne" means there's no helping it
tt's y this deer has a ribbon haha]

I then exited the compound