Days 20 and 21: Kyoto to Nara: After a flat 36 mile ride, it's time for another day off!

October 27, 2007

Fresh from two days away from our bikes and heartened to see improving weather in the forecast, we idled around at the Kyoto Starbucks one last time while we waited for the morning showers to pass by before departing for for Nara. Today marked the beginning of the second half of our trip, and we both wondered a bit as we left Kyoto whether the best of the tour's sights were behind us. In fact though, possibly our three favorite destinations were still down the road, beginning with Nara.

The ride to Nara, once the weather finally settled down, was quite peaceful, attractive and easy. Most of the route follows the Yodogawa on one of the better developed cyclepaths we encountered in Japan, passing through small farms and orchards most of the way. We arrived in Nara in mid-afternoon, and after checking in to our inn we had time to walk through the neighborhood and central mall before dinner (a terrific meal, one of the best - the owner was a chef in Chicago as a young man). Nara, like many of the towns we were to encounter in the second half of the trip, has a central mall consisting of a several block long pedestrian zone, covered overhead to provide shelter from the elements. Our favorite attraction in the mall was a moshi stand, in which the moshi was developed on site by a pair of brawny, mallet-wielding men rhythmically battering the tar out of a puddle of moshi at the bottom of a wooden bucket. They made a fine spectacle at they grunted loudly with each swing, taking alternating strokes like a pair of John Henrys.

Nara is a terrific place to visit. As the capitol of Japan before Kyoto as well as the origin of buddism in the country, it has a dense concentration of important and noteworthy sites. The principal attractions are in Nara Park, the home of several of Nara's most important structures as well as to about a thousand free-ranging, highly domesticated sacred deer. The deer are everywhere - lounging in front of the temples, sleeping in shop doorways, and begging from sightseers - giving the park a cheerful and unusual overall atomosphere. The most notable sight in the park is Todaji ('the Great Eastern Temple'), with its huge bronze Buddha (49 feet high, it is the largest bronzed buddha in the world) housed in an immense wooden building - nearly 160 feet in height, it is allegedly the largest all-wood building worldwide. The park additionally contains a great 5 story pagoda (the second tallest in Japan), and the remarkable and very beautiful Kasuga shrine, another world heritage site.

One more thing made our visit to Nara Park a very special day - a number of young children beautifully outfitted in traditional gowns, on their way to some sort of service at the shrine. If we understood our innkeeper correctly, this is the time of year that children go through some sort of passage ritual, often wearing outfits passed down from their ancestors. One of these gowns was displayed on the wall in the dining hall at the ryokan, and had been worn in her childhood by the woman of the inn, as well as her mother and daughter.

After lunch we hopped on our bikes and pedaled to Yakushiji, another important shrine southwest of town, for still more fine sights - in particular its 14th century wooden pagoda. This one has a rare appearance - it is 3-storied, but appears to have 6 because of secondary 'lean-to' layers beneath the primary tiers. Also at Yakushiji, we were amused when we were drawn in to complete a tourism questionaire (how many days have you been in Japan; where are you staying; what's your favorite town; and so on), and startled the interviewer when he asked how we were traveling. He, like virtually everyone we related this to, could hardly fathom that anyone would visit the country this way. Before letting us go, he asked us to pose before our bicycles for a snapshot.

Setting out on the cycle path from Kyoto to Nara - one of the best paths we encountered in Japan.

The Great Buddha Hall in Todai-Ji, allegedly the largest wooden building in the world.

The great Todaiji Daibutsu - at 49 feet high, this is the largest bronze Buddha in the world.

One of the guardians watching over the Daibutsu.

Some of the hundreds of bronze lanterns of Kashuga Taisha Shrine, Nara Park.

Golden Hall, Kufukuji Temple, Nara Park.

Bronze lantern in front of the Golden Hall.

Octagonal Hall, Kofukuji Temple, Nara Park.

They really are domesticated here. This empressively horned fellow was just lying around by a storefront.

The East Pagoda of Yakushiji temple. Dating from the 7th century, it has a rare architecture - only 3 storied, but with the appearance of 6.

Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 802 miles (1,291 km)

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