Youngs Around the World

From our home base of Kyoto, we hopped onto the train for a day trip to Nara. The Japan train and metro systems have proven to be wonderfully clean, easy to navigate, punctual, and ultimately efficient. Before arriving in Japan, we had purchased a Japan Rail Pass, which has enabled us to scramble around Japan at our usual manic pace with relative ease.

Nara is a small city but it is full of beautiful historic sites. It would be a push to see it all in one day but we were feeling equal to the task. We began our walking tour in the Nara-koen area – an expansive, centrally-located park around which many of Nara’s most impressive sites are situated. The park itself is well-known for its resident deer population which numbers around 1,200. The idea of this deer-filled park was thrilling for two reasons: first, because you never see that many deer in one place and second, because like most adorable, sweet-faced furry mammals, the doe-eyed deer remind us of our little angel puppy whom we miss terribly.

Immediately upon entering the park area, deer were indeed everywhere. In contrast to most wild deer, which are skittish around humans, these deer are completely approachable and even initiate interactions with people passing by. This behavior was most certainly learned by generations of deer being hand-fed shika-sembei (deer biscuits) which are available for purchase at numerous sidewalk carts around the park. As we passed by one of the carts, a middle-aged Japanese man in business casual attire had just purchased a stack of biscuits and taken a few steps away from the cart to tear off the paper packaging. Before he knew what was happening, four impatient deer surrounded him, pulling on his sport coat and nudging him simultaneously until he finally dropped the biscuits and scurried away. We watched other tourists along the way attempting to feed the deer and getting similarly harassed, which was endlessly entertaining.

At my request, we stopped off at Issui-en, a magnificent secluded garden just a couple of blocks off the main road. Aaron opted to wait outside but urged me to take my time inside. Excited by the prospect of a rare moment of solitude, I slipped through the entrance and walked slowly around the grounds while all sensations of stress and urgency dissipated into the fragrant air. It was a garden scene from a fairy tale. As we have come to expect from Japanese gardens, Issui-en was meticulously kept and seemingly designed to coincide with the practice of Zen – “a school of Mahanya Buddhism notable for its emphasis on mindful acceptance of the present moment, spontaneous action, and letting go of self-conscious and judgmental thinking” (Wikipedia). Even a short stroll through one of these oases of serenity gently propels you into the remaining day’s embrace in a calm, cool and collected frame of mind. When I rejoined my husband, he could immediately discern by my peaceful expression that I had found my happy place.

Back at Nara-koen, we spent some time watching the deer snooze in the sunshine and interact with the people. Any person carrying food, be it deer biscuits or an ice cream cone, was fair game. While the park spans a large area, the learned deer naturally gravitate toward the biscuit vendors, meaning that the highest concentrations are on and around the pedestrian walkways. There are multiple city employees whose sole responsibility seems to be sweeping deer droppings from the sidewalks. The deer at Nara are “the descendents of the sacred messengers of gods of the Kasuga shrine” located in Nara. (japundit.com) Because they are sacred, they are protected by law. Between the absence of predators and the prevalence of deer biscuits, they have thrived and multiplied.

We somehow managed to tear ourselves away from the deer long enough to check out Nara’s star architectural attraction, Todai-ji – an awe-inspiring Buddhist temple that is also the world’s largest wooden building. The entrance gate to the temple complex houses two enormous, thirteenth-century wooden statues. The protective screens and the statues’ gargantuan height precluded us from getting a decent photo, especially with our little point-and-shoot camera, but to give you some perspective, the statue’s pinky toe is two to three times larger than the average human head. Having served as Japanese gargoyles, the statues are monstrous and lifelike.

The main hall of Todai-ji, called Daibutsu-den (Hall of the Great Buddha), contains a sixteen-meter-tall bronze Buddha statue. Since it was originally cast in 746, repeated earthquakes have caused the statue’s head to fall off; while the body of the figure is the original, the Buddha has undergone restorative procedures to reconstruct the head after each of several decapitations.

Behind the Buddha is a wooden support beam with a hole born into it, the size of which is identical to that of the Buddha’s nostril. Legend has it that those who can pass through the hole will achieve enlightenment. We watched in amusement as schoolchildren on a field trip passed through the hole with relative ease. Still, as the skinny, nimble pre-adolescents slipped through, there did not appear to be much excess wiggle room. Being naturally small-boned, I slipped through almost effortlessly, despite my newly-acquired travel chub. A group of European backpacker-types stood around the opening, sizing it up for a grand attempt. We walked away while they were still debating the possibilities but, as we neared the temple exit, Aaron decided that he wanted a chance at enlightenment too. We turned around and headed back for the beam, passing the Europeans who, having slightly narrower frames than Aaron, had shied away from the challenge. When we told them that Aaron was going to go for it, they too turned back to watch the big guy get stuck in the hole. After doing a few stretches to limber up, the brave Bear, who had by then attracted a good-sized audience, crouched down and inserted himself, arms first, into the opening. The outward appearance of the hole was deceiving because it was a bit smaller in the middle than it was on either side. Aaron managed to slide his arms through far enough for me to grab his hands and gently yank his shoulders and torso through. From there, he was able to pull the rest of his big bear body through, much to the amazement and applause of the crowd. Aaron was a hamming it up for his fans and I was relieved that my dear husband would not have to wallow in the depths of ignorant darkness while I basked in the bliss of enlightenment.

Back on the street, we leisurely climbed the hill to another hall in the temple complex – Nigatsu-do – to take in the beautiful view of Nara from its upper level. Most of the cityscape resembles the drab, boxy architecture of Kyoto; however, the graceful curves of the traditional Japanese rooftops were quite impressive. We walked by the Kasuga Taisha shrine (again, trying to pace ourselves on the interior shrine/temple/castle tours so as not to get “Buddhaed out”) and later the temple called Kofuku-ji. Kofuku-ji consists of two pagodas, one of which is a five-storey, tower-like pagoda which, in my mind, epitomizes historic Japan.

Somewhere between the temple and the shrine, I had a momentary lapse of reason and decided that I needed to feed the deer. The quiet road was seemingly buffered from the bustling Nara-koen but the terraced hill on one side was nonetheless populated with twenty or thirty deer. The nearest biscuit-cart was unmanned but I saw a small stack of coins in the corner of a cardboard box top which also contained several stacks of deer biscuits. I counted out 150 yen (about $1.50) and exchanged my coins for a single stack. As expected, several deer had followed my every move around the biscuit cart and quickly moved in on me as I attempted to tear off the paper packaging. Having seen the deer in action with other tourists who were crazy enough to attempt the hand-feed, I had anticipated the encroachment. I was not prepared, however, by their aggressive attempts via synchronized nudging, bucking and nipping to score the coveted treats. I tried desperately to keep my composure long enough to break the biscuits into pieces so that the weaker contenders might have a chance at a few crumbs but, as I held the stack out of their desperate reach, the alpha member nipped me on the little piece of chub right under my belly button. Damn! I knew I should’ve been working on my six pack! It didn’t hurt but startled me enough to drop the biscuits with the wrapper still attached and run. We laughed later as we discovered that Aaron caught me in a photo at the precise moment that the little perpetrator had my chub in his grip. The expression on my face went from nervous excitement to pure terror. Needless to say, I don’t recommend feeding the deer in Nara, no matter how sweet and docile they appear. While they may let you pet them and pose with them like little angels, they will not hesitate to bite the chub attached to the hand that feeds them.

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