Day 12 - Nara

Today started with the delicious waffle sandwiches we discovered yesterday. After that nutritious start we headed to the station for the train to Nara. For some reason we decided to get on the local train, rather than the rapid, which meant our journey was about half an hour longer than it needed to be.

We ended up arriving at about midday, so found a convenience store and made ourselves a little picnic. We carried this for about a mile, stopping in souvenir shops along the way to enjoy the air-conditioning, before arriving in Nara-Koen. This is a park filled with some of the most impressive temples and shrines in Kansai but, more importantly, is home to about 1200 very friendly deer. In the past these deer were considered sacred, and allowed to roam freely around the parks and shrines in the area. Now they are one of the greatest symbols of the area and enjoy the status of a national treasure. We found a shady bench and settled down to eat our lunch and watch a doe and her fawn do the same.

We continued our walk for about half a mile more, heading towards Todai-ji, home to the largest wooden building in the world: Diabatsu-den hall. On the approach we ran in to more deer, these much more tame than the others, and walked through the massive Nandai-mon gate, which is guarded by two fierce looking statues. Walking a little further we came to the entrance of the Diabatsu-den hall, and the first and only deer-proof fence we saw in the park.

Not only is the hall itself on a massive scale, so is its contents. It houses the Diabatsu, or great Buddha: a 16m (50 feet) tall bronze statue that is one of the largest in the world. The hall was also filled with other statues and carvings, and several signs pleading visitors not to 'deface the sacred artifacts'. The other main attraction in the hall was a hole in one of the wooden pillars. This hole is the same size as one of the nostrils on the Diabatsu, and legend says that those who can fit through it are ensured enlightenment. In practice this means that there must be an awful lot of enlightened children in the world, at least 5 from what we saw today, along with one very determined woman who had her friends drag her through.

We went to buy some biscuits to feed the deer but, having seen more than a few people being mobbed by the tame deer, we decided to head back to our lunch spot to find some calmer individuals. We probably had an easier time than we would have otherwise, but Sarah still ended up with a fawn chewing her pocket in search of more treats. When all the biscuits were gone we sat down for a snack ourselves, and watched as a pair of women tried to run away from a group of about 20 deer who were following them around.

Next we headed to the Nara National museum for a less crowded look at some of the treasures of the area. The museum is filled with different Buddhist artwork, some of which dates from the 8th or 9th century. There was also another exhibit of bronze Chinese pots, which was a little less interesting, but contained the very imaginatively named 'Big Cauldron'. We couldn't quite figure out when this exhibit had opened; the leaflet we were handed called it 'recent' but also promised it would open in 2002.

After getting distracted by the deer yet again, we walked back to the station and caught our train back to Kyoto. A subway journey and a short walk took us to our final sight in Kyoto: the Kyoto International Manga Museum. For the most part this is a massive collection of japanese manga, but also has some exhibits and displays on the development of manga in Japan, animation techniques and the spread of manga and anime in America and Europe. We left just before closing time so that we could grab some food and do the last of our washing before leaving Kyoto tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow we are back to Tokyo for a few hours before heading off to Niigata.