Japan Exodus - Day 36: Tōdai-ji, The Largest Wooden StandingStructureIn The World

Hello everyone - Golden Week continues! 

With all the walking, talking, and good food munching my friend Lico and I did in Kobe, I was sad to see her go and return to work. I had a little work cut out for me as well, trying to navigate through the inner belly of Osaka city, where one can never cycle for more than a few hundred meters before stopping at the behest of a red traffic light. Doubly frustrating for me and the rig I carry.

The true strength of a fully loaded bike is locked away in its own momentum. Slow to start a race for sure, but get me and a heavy bike on a open road and that momentum compounds into a win every time. Maybe then, you can also see the weakness. Without enough room or time to build momentum, I am stuck in the city streets slowly starting and stopping my whole way through. Not the nicest conditions for making a cross country trek but necessary for making it all the way. 

From Kobe I thought I could make the 70km or so into Nara in a day. I underestimated the red lights. And a small hill. When I arrived close enough, I decided to camp, and wake up fresh with the Golden Week crowd to see the temple.

The temple is no small feat and not without its share of Japanese history. Built in the Nara period (710-794 AD) at the request of Emperor Shomu, the temple was positioned as a one of many state-established provincial temples. Today, as back then, the temple is place of prayer for peace and affluence on Earth.The center object of the temple is undoubtedly the Vairocana Buddha. Made from cast bronze and plated with gold, the statue - and the temple itself - was damaged and repaired several times by war. This is actually the third generation of the temple, build in the Edo period. Just to give you an idea of the gargantuan imposition this building creates over its spectators, realize that the frontal with of the building is 57 meters (thats 187 ft) today, an approximately 33% smaller than the original structure (and yet still the largest in the world). 

Tired from getting through all the traffic and red lights the day before is not the only problems that come with trying to get through the city. Because there is not much nature to be had, and the available residency neighborhoods, there is little to no need for rest areas around these parts. That puts a huge hole in my sleeping area plans, as I would have to find a park to set up camp in. With the morning of today, I could take a look around at where I stumbled into the night before. 

Actually, the night before was a little strange. There were no light out, except for this unusual glow emitting just beyond the tree line, maybe two hundred meters to the North. Could have been another camp sight. Could have been a UFO sighting. Don't know, will never know. 

One last hill that separated me from the temple of Todai-ji provided an opportunity to meet a new friend. Actually, she was as lost as I was. 

You see, Google maps has a way of simplifying the routs for cars, as there is no bike option when creating routes. Even with the "avoid tolls" function turned on, sometimes the route cuts into highways and roadways where bikes are not allowed in Japan. Today happened to come across one such unbikeable roads and so I was left with the option of going over the mountain hills rather than through them. Here is where I found another curious cyclist on her phone, trying to navigate the way through the steep hill that cars below will never know.

We talked as we cycled up for a few moments and then exchanged information before the cycle down, because I knew that I would out pace her. That is not a diss on her, just that my bike is much more front heavy. And, just like how pine wood derby cars work, my bike will speed up faster as it descends. 

You wouldn't believe the line of cars I was able to skip through on my way in to the final stretch of city to see this temple. Lots of grumpy faces from the inability to have any affect on the waiting in traffic. And so early in the morning too. But now me, I was smiling the hole way through =)

So here she is, Todai-ji. Two quick off beat comments. First, Todai means "light house" in Japanese, so you must say the ji part (which is a prefix for temple) or people will get confused. Especially since we are no where near the sea or ocean and to have a light house at this point would seem rather pointless. Second, more than the actual Dogo onsen building back on Shikoku that the movie Spirited Away is based on, this building looks so much more like the humongous wooden edifice depicted in the anime.  

The other big attraction to these parts are the deer. I hesitate to call the deer feril, for they are much more tame and semi-domesticated than wild deer you might catch a shy glimpse of along a forest path. You can imagine why. With all the thousands of tourist that pour into these parts to see the temple, these deer are not only not shy, they are smart and aware to the workings of traffic light signals and automatic doors. How? These deer are generations deep into living together with humans and these surroundings. If not from their parents, then from having lived around those mechanism since birth has given them the sense to not cross on red, and where to position their bodies so that automatic doors recognize their bodies.  

More deer, just walking around casually as if they don't expect anyone to notice them out of place, because for them, they are not. Listen closely, and you can even hear one or two whistling inconspicuously, as if to imply casual avoidance.  

Since I had arrived with the first batch of morning visitors, I arrived too early to catch whatever event is planned on this floating stage.  

A little further down the man made river, a completely wooden boat showed off the beautiful Japanese carpentry skills of an age long ago. The boat does not appear to be in use. 

Here we are again along the entrance to the temple. Can you see how tiny and small the people walking up to the edifice appear?

Do not be confused. This building is massive! Even if these weren't children lining up along the entrance to the building, the sheer magnitude of hight and wooden material dwarfs anything and everything else around it. From bottom to top, the building resides at only 48.7 meters, or 159 ft. Made from hand before there where machines or computers to help, three times. 

As with most, if not all, temples here in Japan, two guardians watch closely over the entrance, one on either side of you as you enter. 

Don't forget to look up! Just installing a ceiling with beams and covers would be one thing, yet to detail the inside of the roof with interlaced wooden beams must have taken a kind of patience and planning that I wish I had. 

Inside, the great Vairocana Buddha awaits. 

One of the wooden beams on the inners of the temple. You cant really tell the scale of this wooden beam from the photo, but believe that I could press my body up against the wood fully and not but wrap by arms half way around the circumference.  

A little further down the line, another wooden beam attracted the tourists. Apparently, you could wait in line and try to fit through one of the beams, through a whole at the bottom of one that is said to be no bigger than the eye of the giant Vairocana Buddha.

Although I spend the good portion of the morning, that is to say before the morning turned into a rude pre-summer heat, I was not going to rest all day at the temple. I had spend time with Lico and visited my friends Yoshi's bar, now the time has come to visit another good cycling friend in Japan, my good buddy Go. You might remember him from visiting mount Fuji together two years ago. He had since come to visit me in Kouchi and there is no possibility now that I would go around and not take another visit before a departure from Japan. And the thing about this guy is, there is always a lot of quick excitement when you meet up with a guy named Go!

Love,

-A

PS. From the last post, the wooden cat sign reads らめん, or ramen. Happy cycling!