Ancient Nara

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Saturday, 12/02/2011 10:00, Kozenji, Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture
We woke up after a late-night manly beer session and found out that most of us had already ventured into the nearby mountains to explore some abandoned railway tunnels. Since the rain was pouring heavily, Grega and I decided not to go hiking. Instead, we went to visit our friends in Nara and see some of the ancient city. Yes, just like Kyoto and Kamakura, Nara used to be the capital of Japan. It can, however, boast being the first capital of the classical Japanese state back in the VIII century. Out of political reasons, the capital was then moved to the newly built Kyoto, yet Nara remained an important religious and commercial centre. It is sometimes still referred to as 'Nanto', which means 'southern capital', in opposition to Kyoto lying to the north.

Saturday, 12/02/2011 12:00, Nara Station
After a four train changes we finally got to the central station. We were welcomed by the locals - Emmanuel and his girlfriend Yuko, whom we had met the previous day in Kyoto. Together we ventured into the nearby Nara Park and I was immediately struck by the view of one of the town's symbols - the sika deers. The vast park and it's surroundings are inhabited by tamed deers, which according to a legend came to Nara with a god to protect the newly established capital. The deers wander carelessly around the streets and alleys, not being intimidated by passers-by or even cars. Mostly they are harmless and even bow to you in response (amazing trick) but once they spot food or any other item of interest, they can become a bit insolent to get it from your hands or even pockets (they ate one of my friends' paper temple ticket he had in his trouser's back pocket). Fortunately, their horns are regularly trimmed.

Anyway, we eventually reached the National Treasure of Todai-ji ('Eastern Great Temple') from the VIII century: home of the great Buddha statue and one of the biggest wooden buildings in the world. Honestly, it made a huge impression on me and is probably the most beautiful and overwhelming temple I've seen in Japan so far. Also by that time the sky cleared up a bit and allowed us to admire Todai-ji in it's full sunshine glory, from the Nandaimon (the Great Southern Gate) and it's two Nio guard statues to the middle gate, the Main Hall and the Daibutsu, the biggest copper Buddha statue in the world. The Daibutsu actually didn't look bigger than the Kamakura one, but that's maybe because it was located indoors. At the temple we met with the rest of our Nara friends: Nadia and Giuseppe and some guests from Yamaguchi (Marco) and Tokyo (Fifi).

After seeing the marvels of Todai-ji we retreated to have lunch in a local ramen joint and spent some time in a European style cafe recommended by Yuko. Some persuasive phone calls later we were joined by the tunnel hiking team and in full force went back to Nara Park to see some sort of light festival with beautiful illuminated decorations and very original artistic compositions of projected images. If this sounds dull and unclear, check out the attached movie. We also passed through another precious temple - Kofuku-ji.

In the end, we had a group dinner at an Indian restaurant, paid a short visit to our friends' dormitory and rushed back to catch the last train to Kozenji. Nara definitely surprised me in a positive way and felt so different then the nearby and also historic Kyoto. Modelled after old Chinese capitals, Nara seemed ancient, calm and harmonious. The deers wandering freely among humans also added to the magical impression of a bit forgotten city, where the time stood still and kept the past beauty alive. The bonus movie shows how traditional Japanese sweets are made in the streets of Nara.

Snow over Kyoto

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Thursday, 10/02/2011 22:50, Shinjuku, Tokyo
After a long day at NTT and a sleepy train ride to Tokyo I found myself at the foot of the towering Shinjuku Center Building, waiting for the charter bus to take me for my long awaited weekend. The cold February wind, blowing relentlessly between skyscrapers left me shivering even as I took my seat, lit a small light above my head and started reading Bulgakov's 'The Master and Margarita'. In the famous book, a devilish stranger was described. One of the characters commented on his unpleasant appearance saying that he was probably Polish. After my eyes got tired, I lulled myself to sleep with The Cure's 'Kyoto Song'. I was to wake up in that city.

Friday, 11/02/2011 6:00, Kyoto Station
An even colder wind welcomed me in the past capital, hitting my face with a stingy mixture of rain and snow. Accompanied by the sound of my teeth I literally ran to the station building to hide myself from the storm. After a short tour of a rather unimpressive mall I realised that everything except an overcrowded McDonald's was still closed. Fortunately I was soon joined by Diego and Javier, who came with different buses. Since we still had to wait for the arrival of other friends, we decided to explore a bit more, led by Javi, who fortunately had already visited Kyoto during Christmas and knew his way around the main locations. First of all, Kyoto station's main hall blew my mind with it's astonishing modern architecture and a massive staircase leading to the "Happy Terrace" from where a beautiful panorama of the city could have been seen if not for the snowstorm fog. Fortunately, Bartek and Tomek didn't get lost and arrived around 9.00. Also, I found out soon enough that my summer shoes were not well suited for the weather and spend the next few hours looking for an open shop on a National Foundation holiday, only to settle for an expensive department store with golden knobs and butlers. But at least I got a pair of decent shoes.

On the way we saw the landmark Kyoto Tower, entered the courtyard of the huge Hongan-ji (Temple of the Primal Vow) and marveled at it's beautiful black gate covered in snow. This Founder's Hall Gate is supposed to be the largest wooden structure in the world... Anyway, we crossed the Kamo River, inhabited by some freezing cranes, and wandered around eastern Kyoto's atmospheric, narrow streets leading mainly to restaurants, gift shops and traditional Japanese inns. Eventually we got to Gion - the old geisha district, well-known among gaijins for being the setting of 'Memoirs of a geisha' novel/movie. We were lucky enough to actually meet some geishas taking a walk through the calm alleys. Although it was probably a bit rude, we still had to ask them to be kind enough and take pictures with us, which they did. At that moment I fully realised I made another of my dreams come true. I was in the beautiful Kyoto, surrounded by primeval wooden buildings as dignified as the delicately smiling geishas. Everything was important, filled with tradition and I thought that view, that scenery, that feeling were the reasons I came to Japan in the first place.

As the wet rooftops glittered in the shy February sun and the last remnants of the morning snow began to disappear, we plunged deeper into the dreamy surroundings. Creepy street art, the tall Yasaka pagoda, Hello Kitty Geisha and much more... With a bit of delay we finally got to the impressive Kiyomizu-dera, a temple of "pure water" placed on a hill with a beautiful view of the cityscape. How about descending into the main hall pitch-black basement where the only light source was the dim love stone, granting a single wish upon touching? Also at the temple we caught up with Grega and Jarek, our benevolent hosts for the weekend, who took us right away for a local speciality lunch (okonomiyaki and yakisoba).

We spent the rest of the afternoon roughly following the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto World Heritage Site and there's truly too much write about. We saw the enormous war memorial statue of Bodhisattva (Ryozen Kannon), a wedding, Maruyama Park, cemeteries and got lost in a bamboo forest, where my camera's battery eventually died. Towards the end of our excursion, we were joined by Emmanuel and his lovely girlfriend and were ready for the final temple for the day - the silver Ginkaku-ji with it's precisely crafted garden. That was the limit of our endurance and after a dinner in an oddly Chinese restaurant we called it a day and headed for our well-deserved rest in Kozenji. What a day it was!