Today Jay and I traveled to Nara. It takes about an hour by train. We used our JR passes to ride the JR train. we had to make one transfer on the way and back. It was very warm today and things are not close together in Nara. It is almost a mile to get to Nara park. the first thing we saw was the Three Story pagoda. Then we walked to where we found the deer. Deer have lived in the park for hundreds of years. You are allowed to feed the deer Shika Senbei or deer crackers. The deer come right up to you and eat the crackers out of your hand. When you run out of crackers, the deer go to someone else. After the deer we walked to the Kasuga Taisha Shrine. This is another 3/4 of a mile. From there we walked back to the train station and then decided to take a taxi to Todaiji Temple. I tried to ask the taxi driver to wait for us, but he did not understand. After paying the entrance fee of 500 yen each, we entered the shrine and walked around. Then we had to walk about 1 1/2 miles back to the train station. By this time, I was hot and tired and just wanted to go back to Osaka to our hotel.
From Daimon Gate we walked to Danjo Garan Complex. This is Koyasan’s central temple complex. The two main buildings are the Kondo Hall and the Konpon Daito Pagoda, The current Kondo Hall was built in 1932, previous versions burned down. It enshrines an image of Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of medicine and healing. Next to it is the Konpon Daito Pagoda. It is 147 feet tall and is a two tiered tahoto style pagoda. A statue of Dainichi Nyorai stands in the middle surrounded by statues and paintings on pillars.
From there we walked a short ways until we found a place to eat lunch. after lunch we took the bus to the other end of Koyasan. from there we walked to Kobo Daishi’s masoleum. The pathway goes by over 200,000 gravestones where feudal lords are buried. It is almost a mile walk.
We were then ready to leave. we took the bus back to the Koyasan Station and took the cable car back down the mountain. Then we took the express train back to Namba, which only took a little over an hour. This was a fun excursion.
