Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Japan sketchbook - 13

Todaiji Temple Daibutsu (Great Buddha)
Watercolour and crayon
©2015 Charlene Brown

The Todaiji temple complex includes a hall that was until 1998 the world’s largest wooden building, rebuilt three times after two fires and a typhoon. This hall houses the world’s largest bronze Daibutsu, a magnificent statue of the Buddha, almost 15 m. in height, that more than makes up for having to traverse the prevailing deer menace…
In Nara, both the Todaiji Temple and the Kasuga Shrine are surrounded by deer parks that proved to be a challenge for those of us with the usual Victoria deer attitude – and it turned out the Nara deer have attitude as well, especially toward anyone who hasn’t come up with 150 Yen for deer cookies. Actually, they are a little easier to deal with than Victoria deer as they are very small and obey traffic signals.