Pleces I'm Visiting: Japan 2025 – Kyoto and Nara

Before heading to Himeji, I stopped off for a couple of days in Kyoto and Nara, mainly to visit friends, but the cherries were once again in bloom, although beginning to fall, and in Nara I visited the Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall), one of the largest wooden structures in the world, that houses one of the largest Buddha statues in the world, if not the largest. The last time I saw it was nearly 50 years ago. The statue is about 49 feet tall. The raised hand alone is about 8 feet high. The building that houses the statue has been rebuilt several times, having succumbed to fire. The present structure, rebuilt in 1692, is only about two thirds the size of the original temple hall's size, but still very impressive. Two large Bodhisattvas flank the main figure and several other smaller Buddhist statues are on display along with  models of the former and current buildings. 

There was a long line of people waiting their turn to experience another popular attraction, a pillar in the hall with a hole in its base that is the same size as the Daibutsu's nostril. The story is that if you can squeeze through this opening you will be granted enlightenment in the next life.

In Kyoto, friends and I had a late-night snack at a restaurant in the Gion district decorated with cases of vintage toys (including an entire case of Atom Boy figures) and with examples of the small cash envelopes used to pass money to the prostitutes that were housed in this part of Kyoto in times past. At the station in Kyoto on my way to Himeji I noticed an entire Hello Kitty-themed train. Yes, there are Hello Kitty trains in Japan.