Real fast real nice
Weekend of March third and fourth. The weather forcast was not to be believed for this time of year. Just perfect. I was participating in a competition with my bike club in California. Who could ride the most miles in one month. I had been taking advandage of the most mild winter I've experienced in Japan, and along with riding my brains out it was possible for me to achieve 1000 miles, a month goal I never thought possible especially living here. My weekend schedule was set in my mind. Saturday a nice long ride, come home for lunch and see my student, Kida San for a lesson. After coming home and napping Yoshiko and I would go out for a pristine city walk and dinner in some area of Tokyo we had yet to explore. Sunday another long ride in the morning, followed by perhaps escaping town with Yoshiko for another town walk and exploration. But Yoshiko had bigger plans that she in fact had mentioned to me; we could go to see a very interesting religious ceremony in Nara, if IF I didn't have to work on Saturday. Well, my student cancelled. Yoshiko was on it right away and told me this was a great chance to see this ceremony and the weather was all thumbs up for a great overnight trip. My ego balked; but what of my MILES, my precious sweet 1000 miles? This was unacceptable. Yoshiko was willing to compromise. Okay, you can have Saturday morning until about ten AM, then WE ARE GOING. I was completely shut out. But instead of merely panicking, I panicked and then decided to give my mileage a second look. Yes, it was possible, if IF I got up very VERY early and rode a lot I could complete my goal. I only needed to do seventy miles all in one morning. Wait... I took the long way to work on Friday, so now I only need sixty miles. Saturday, I got up at 3:45 am, did my typical coffee and musuli thing and put away ten miles on the trainer. Now I only needed fifty miles and it was still only 4:30 am. Next I took to the streets and rode well. After visiting all my usual haunts and riding harder and faster then usual I in fact completed my miles with time to spare. I felt wipped and went home to take a shower and nap. Now the real weekend adventure would begin.
(Perfect day in Nara park)
We were out of the condo by eleven and on the shinkansen platform at 1150. A brand new Nozomi pulled up looking like a refugee from Matrix. The ride was fast and smooth as usual. At Kyoto station Yoshiko worked her magic again and had our arrival timed perfectly to the departure of the Kintetsu express bound for Nara. We were at our hotel next to Nara Park by three thirty and ready to explore. Well sorta, I was tired but I hung in like a trooper and it was worth it. Very nice quiet neighboorhoods that I want to live in. Historical looking houses, wooded parkland and quiet streets surrounded us as we walked up hill. After a snack of soba we headed into the park to see Kasuga shrine. It was closed after four so we continued to our true destination; Todaiji Temple. No not the big one with the huge Buddah in it, the other one up the hill with the huge overhang outdoor stage where they light fires and let the sparks drop on your head. This is in fact what we had come to see, since this fire ceremony has been held at the beginning of spring for about fifteen hundred years the odds were in our favour it would be held that weekend, and sure enough it would be. One problem arose however; everyone else must have also got the idea about coming that weekend because the area was completely and utterly packed, like rock concert packed, really really packed. We stood in one place for one hour. It started to rain. We stood our ground and eventually the show began. Priests were carrying poles about ten feet long with a ball of twigs on the end. These bunches of branches were on fire, a big fire showering sparks. The priest would spin the stick while walking over the audience and as the sparks would touch the folk below and bring them good luck for the year.
("Shower fire on my baby, Priest!" Yells the man in white holding up his little girl.)
(After about fifteen hundred years of doing this they're beggining to burn out)
(Cool evening shot of the five tiered pagoda by Yoshiko)
The next day we went for a nice morning walk. We walked through the woods in pristine weather and eventually made our way down to the field to see the man call the the deer. The deer of Nara park are literally god and cannot be touched and are in fact pampered and fed. These deer roam the park freely and fear no human. In the morning at ten oclock a designated park employee blows a french horn which brings the deer charging out of the woods into the field. Then the deer caller tosses goodies to the critters and they go into a feeding frenzy.
(WE ARE GOD. FEED US DEER CALLER.)
(Humans; have wars, famines and struggle with inequality. Turtles; have mass orgies on logs in public ponds. Who's smarter...)
On the way back to Kyoto we stopped for lunch with Yoshikos parents, who live in Nara. We parted ways and continued to Kyoto. We had a few hours to explore the ancient capital so we took a subway into the central part of town to get lost somewhere.
We discovered a small private railway called Eidan, that took us up into the forest to an area called Kurama. It was just perfect and smelled non-polluted and I wanted to live there. We got back in town in time to catch the Nozomi back home. Thanks for reading.
(Perfect day in Nara park)
We were out of the condo by eleven and on the shinkansen platform at 1150. A brand new Nozomi pulled up looking like a refugee from Matrix. The ride was fast and smooth as usual. At Kyoto station Yoshiko worked her magic again and had our arrival timed perfectly to the departure of the Kintetsu express bound for Nara. We were at our hotel next to Nara Park by three thirty and ready to explore. Well sorta, I was tired but I hung in like a trooper and it was worth it. Very nice quiet neighboorhoods that I want to live in. Historical looking houses, wooded parkland and quiet streets surrounded us as we walked up hill. After a snack of soba we headed into the park to see Kasuga shrine. It was closed after four so we continued to our true destination; Todaiji Temple. No not the big one with the huge Buddah in it, the other one up the hill with the huge overhang outdoor stage where they light fires and let the sparks drop on your head. This is in fact what we had come to see, since this fire ceremony has been held at the beginning of spring for about fifteen hundred years the odds were in our favour it would be held that weekend, and sure enough it would be. One problem arose however; everyone else must have also got the idea about coming that weekend because the area was completely and utterly packed, like rock concert packed, really really packed. We stood in one place for one hour. It started to rain. We stood our ground and eventually the show began. Priests were carrying poles about ten feet long with a ball of twigs on the end. These bunches of branches were on fire, a big fire showering sparks. The priest would spin the stick while walking over the audience and as the sparks would touch the folk below and bring them good luck for the year.
("Shower fire on my baby, Priest!" Yells the man in white holding up his little girl.)
(After about fifteen hundred years of doing this they're beggining to burn out)
(Cool evening shot of the five tiered pagoda by Yoshiko)
The next day we went for a nice morning walk. We walked through the woods in pristine weather and eventually made our way down to the field to see the man call the the deer. The deer of Nara park are literally god and cannot be touched and are in fact pampered and fed. These deer roam the park freely and fear no human. In the morning at ten oclock a designated park employee blows a french horn which brings the deer charging out of the woods into the field. Then the deer caller tosses goodies to the critters and they go into a feeding frenzy.
(WE ARE GOD. FEED US DEER CALLER.)
(Humans; have wars, famines and struggle with inequality. Turtles; have mass orgies on logs in public ponds. Who's smarter...)
On the way back to Kyoto we stopped for lunch with Yoshikos parents, who live in Nara. We parted ways and continued to Kyoto. We had a few hours to explore the ancient capital so we took a subway into the central part of town to get lost somewhere.
We discovered a small private railway called Eidan, that took us up into the forest to an area called Kurama. It was just perfect and smelled non-polluted and I wanted to live there. We got back in town in time to catch the Nozomi back home. Thanks for reading.
posted by lyle Nisenholz at 8:12 PM
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