The temperature in Nara is above 90 F, and the humidity is always around 70%. That means if you feel burning under the sun in New Jersey’s summer, you will feel steaming in Nara’s summer, whether you are under the sun or shadow. I see a lot of people walking on the street with a handkerchief to wipe their forehead and neck. That is really helpful, if you want to survive through the summer here.
.
My first stop in Japan is Nara, which is a city located in central Japan. It used to be the capital of Japan in 710 – 794 BC, which is called Nara Era in the history. In Nara, I went to Todai-Ji Temple, Kasuga-Taisha, Nara Park, and Nara National Museum. Their locations are very close, which is on the south of Nara City. The south of Nara City has most of the historic buildings and temples, while the north portion are more modernized. I think this is a good example of urban planning – to preserve historic area and separate it from the modern city.
.
Todai-Ji Temple was erected in 741, when Japan is in Nara Era. During that time, temple design in Japan is highly influence by China’s Tang Dynasty. It utilized a common standard of temple design – a main hall in the central with some small halls on left and right side, standing almost symmetrically, as well as a forested mountain on the back of the temple. Walked over the mountain, I arrived Kasuga-Taisha. Kasuga is the name, and Taisha means “large shrine”. This shrine has multiple halls, scattered all over the mountain and connected by hiking paths and steps. The path obeys the traditional design method – using curvilinear path to follow the grade of the mountain.
(Residential houses next to Nara Park that use similar architecture character to keep the style of this area.)
.
Then I went to Nara Park, which is famous for its deers. The deers have lived in the park for thousands of years. The park has visitors all around the year, which makes the deers totally get used to living with people and even become “humanized”. I saw some deers “bow” to people – when someone hold deer cookies standing in front of a deer, the deer will nod its head up and down, which looks like bow to people. But don’t hold the cookies for too long, the deers will get pissed off and butt you. Don’t ask me why I know this, because I saw two crying girls. Some of them become very aggressive. When I was talking a rest in a pavilion, a male deer came to drag my bag and tried to open my backpack to find some food. I heard local people said that the deers are protected in Nara, because the local religion believes that deers are god’s servant and they should respect deers as they respect their gods.
(the guy trying to escape from the ”crime scene“） （deer fence is so necessary here)
.
An interesting thing I found in Japan is that most Japanese people don’t speak English, but they can understand if you speak English with them, but they will talk back to you by Japanese. For instance, I can read Japanese, and basically understand what they are talking about, but my speaking skill is limited. So when I tried to say something that I don’t know how to speak in Japanese, I would use English, and they will reply by Japanese. I think part of the reason is that in Japanese, there are so many words come from English, which is written by katakana (片仮名) – similar pronunciation, exactly the same meaning.
.
Here are some interesting design elements that I want to share:
wooden door
wooden ceiling
a pavilion, it is recently built, but it blends with the historic buildings very well.
Leave a Reply