After our visit to Houryuuji, we were free to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening exploring the elsewhere. Some of our class left early to return to Kyoto, or to spend the rest of the weekend in Osaka, but a fair few of us hurried over to Yakushiji temple.
Like Houryuuji, Yakushiji was built for the purpose of praying for the recovery of a member of the imperial family. In the late 7th c., Emperor Temmu planned its construction while his wife was suffering from a very serious illness. Also like Emperor Youmei, Temmu died before the plan was realized, but Empress Jito succeeded him and saw the temple's completion in 698. Due to numerous natural disasters, fires, and wars over the years, only the Yakushiji Triad in the Kondo, the Sho-Kannon statue in the Toindo, and the Eastern Pagoda remain intact from the original temple grounds.
Yakushiji's Kondo, the red and white building in the above picture, houses its principle images of the Yakushi Triad, dating from the Hakuho period. Emperor Temmu commissioned this piece in 680, and it was finished in 697, a year before the entire temple's completion. Originally it was gilded cast-bronze, but a fire in 1528 which demolished most of the grounds left the gold sheen on the statues blackened and smooth. This triad has a number of characteristics which make it unique. For one, instead of the typical medicine pot held in the Yakushi Nyorai's left hand, there is none; instead, he sits upon a medicine chest. Designs on the chest-pedestal reflect the significance of the Silk Road: Grecian grapevine scrolls on the frame, Middle Eastern lotus designs similar to those found in Islamic mosques, Hindu-style crouched barbarians reliefs, and T'and Dynasty-style carvings of the Shijin, the dragon, phoenix, tiger, and tortoise grouping, all demonstrate the international influences of that period.
The East Pagoda (above) was one of the few survivors from the 1528 fire, and is the only extant Hakuho period architecture in Japan today. The mokoshi, decorative or cuff roofs, give the appearance that it has six stories, but it actually only has three. This rhythm of the roof design is poetically referred to as "Frozen Music." The West Pagoda (below) was destroyed in aforementioned fire, and was finally rebuilt along with the Kondo in 1980.
A monk speaking to a group of chuugakusei
Yakushiji's Daikodo, which enshrines a Hakuho-period Mytreya Buddha triad
A small Inari shrine between Yakushiji and the nearby Hachiman shrine
A little south of Yakushiji is a Hachimanguu shrine dedicated to Hachiman--a kami of war and guardian spirit of the Minamoto samurai clan--as well as Empress Jingu and Empress Nakatsuhime.
To the north of the main Yakushiji grounds is the Genjou Sanzouin Garan complex, which was dedicated to Hsuan Tsang in 1981 when some of his remains were given to the temple. (That's as in Genjou Sanzou as in the gun-toting, snarky main protagonist from the anime and manga Saiyuki, which is loosely based upon the Chinese Journey to the West story, related to the Stone Monkey King legend. Based on the same priest, anyway. Very, very loosely.) The man himself, after studying Buddhism for nearly twenty years in India, was responsible for translating over a thousand volumes of Buddhist writings in T'ang Dynasty China.
Meet Sento-kun, Nara's own mascot. As far as I can tell, he's a deer-Buddha-boy. (Unless I'm wrong in thinking the little curl-dot on his forehead and elongated earlobes are indicative of a Buddha-like character...)
Doe, a deer, a female deer
Deer, called shika in Japanese, have long been regarded as sacred animals, because in ancient times, they were supposedly the special mount of kami and divine beings. Today, I believe the locals regarded them as sacred pains-in-the-butt and insatiable brats. Because Nara's so famous for the deer, and people visit particularly to see and pet them, they're quite fearless. I hear that they can be very mean as well, but the deer we met were all fairly sweet and docile. A couple were slightly irked to have their horns touched, which isn't so surprising when you realize that their antlers are very warm because they're still growing and so the "velvet" tissue is still living. The antlers only become dead tissue and bone once fully grown.
One friendly bloke actually walked with us
There weren't too many fawns around...this one was a little timid.
And this stag fancied himself quite the model...Have to say, he got the job done too. Observe the gorgeous posturing.
This one could have been a model in a Life Drawing class, haha. Those curves...
I've seen this look before...on a dog's face.
Todaiji's Nandaimon
This gate is absolutely enormous, the largest I've seen yet, and you can sense its oldness.
The Niou in this gate look about thirty feet tall. Again--huge!
We wandered around the outer areas of Todaiji's grounds...
...and I took a tiny peek inside the main grounds through a grate.
They know you want to feed them. She was not-very-subtly following around one of the vendors as he was packing up his wares outside Todaiji.
I believe this is supposed to be the bell tower, just east of the main grounds.
Kannon-in shrine, also just east of Todaiji.
After some good wandering, picture-taking, and having fun watching the deer harass the lingering vendors, we headed back towards the train station in search of sustenance. We found this lovely little tonkatsu hole-in-the-wall down a shopping arcade right next to the station. About an hour later, our bellies stuffed with tasty and fairly inexpensive food, we hopped the train and subway back to Kyoto, dozing along the way.Does.
Doe.
I jumped a bit with surprise when this fountain suddenly turned on while I was aiming my camera at the statue.
Also, it sure looks like the hills of Nara are alive back in that poster of Sento-kun.
~~~
Engrish of the Day:
No comments:
Post a Comment