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AWESOME vacation with my family in Japan for Winter Vacation. They came to visit and we had a blast in Kyoto, Tokyo, Nara, and Osaka. It was so much fun, my brother has decided to apply to teach in Japan after he graduates college.
Some pics from when we went to Nara. It’s less than an hour away by train, so it’s really easy to get to. If you’re coming to visit us, we should DEFINITELY go here.
There are deer just roaming all over the place and you can feed them deer crackers. They are actually a little bit pushy as you might be able to tell in the videos.
Also, the largest bronze statue in Japan is that Buddha statue we’re standing in front of, housed in the largest wooden structure in the world.
Enjoy.
A couple of days ago, Jenn and I went to Koya-san. It’s Japan’s biggest and oldest cemetery up in the mountains in Wakayama prefecture. We stayed at a Buddhist temple and had traditional Japanese accommodations. There were meals served in our rooms and an onsen (hot spring) inside the temple grounds. The first day, we relaxed at the temple and took a walk around town in the evening before dinner. After dinner, we put on our yukatas and went to the onsen. It was my first experience in a public bath house, but it actually wasn’t a big deal at all. You get naked, take a quick shower, and then hop in the onsen.
The next day, we woke up at 5:30 to go to a Buddhist temple gathering, which was mysteriously therapeutic. We couldn’t take any pictures inside the temple, so I’ll try to set up the scene for you.
The service was held in a dark room within a room. The colors in the hall were mostly deep reds and golds, dimly lit by a few candles. The monks were inside of a chamber with more candles, burning incense and all of these ancient brass statues of deities and ornamentation. They were surrounded by a sort of overly decorated cage, so we could watch the whole thing. There was the occasional ringing bell and continuous chanting that sounded simultaneously profound and meaningless (to me at least because I couldn’t understand most of it). Although it was super early and freezing cold, I couldn’t help but be lulled into a trance by 40 minutes of chanting. It was difficult to understand what they were saying, but I could tell at some point there were a lot of numbers being said. It’s strange that a lot of other religious ceremonies I’d been to have had passages in the scriptures with lots of numbers being recited. I wonder what that’s about. Record keeping, maybe? Anyway, after the service was over one of the monks opened the sliding doors of the temple out unto a rock garden (which you can see in one of our pictures).
After breakfast and check out, we went to Okinoin, the massive cemetery/forest in Koyasan. We have lots of pictures, so I’ll let them speak for themselves.
Overall, I can’t speak highly enough of Koya-san. If anyone ever takes a trip to Japan, you should go for sure.
