Nara is pretty unique so to say. If youve been following me for a while you would know that this is my second visit to that wonderful city. One of the main attractions or the biggest attraction of Nara is of course the ever so Todaiji Temple which houses Japan’s largest Buddha statue which measures about 15 meters tall in the world’s largest wooden building. If you’ve never seen a massive statue up close and personal, it is pretty humbling. When you consider the work that went into making it, and then repairing it… it is awe inspiring. It is something hard to put into words, you can ask Wibi and Kelsey its truly amazing. Truly amazing that I had to feature this Temple for Project Holo – head over here for more in-depth information.

We took the JR line from Kyoto and arrived late morning, fortunately the weather has been great and no signs of rain in the near future. Enjoyed making our way to the Temple as you are surrounded with deers. On arrival at the entrance of the temple, funnily enough the place wasnt as crowded at first meaning that there were no signs of those mass tour groups but that was obviously short lived as one of them appeared. We decided to do the Project photos first in fear that we would be swamped by the groups making it difficult to take the close up picture of the Buddha. Nevertheless it still proved difficult as the angle was hard to find as well as the lighting inside the temple. I wasnt sure whether we successfully manage to capture the Buddha but thank god editing software like lightroom exists! Like any other places we were at one stage the center of attention once Holo made her appearence, I hope thought it wasnt perceived as a sign of disrespect, mark my word thats the last thing I would do, but I know its hard for strangers to understand our intentions without telling them. We tried to be as discrete as possible but then again that to is hard!. Anyway the photo session was actually pretty quick, in the space of 5 minutes we took the outside as well as the inside shot.

Listed UNESCO World Heritage Site as “Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara“, Todaiji is one my favourite temples in all of Japan because of the enormous and striking Buddha that is the centerpiece of the temple. There are bigger things in the world, even bigger Buddhas, but this one carries a presence greater than mass and volume alone. Todaiji is an amazing place that has certainly earned its status as one of Japan’s top attractions, that very day where we set out was the day where a very lucky wolf met the enormous Buddha of Nara. I hope you enjoyed today’s feature!

The Nara experience continues where Holo will meet new furry friends!

Tōdai-ji (東大寺, Eastern Great Temple) is a Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall (大仏殿 Daibutsuden), houses the world’s largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana,known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu (大仏). The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the Kegon school of Buddhism. Tōdai-ji has been used as a location in several Japanese films and television dramas. It was also used in the 1950s John Wayne movie The Barbarian and the Geisha when Nandaimon, the Great South Gate, doubled as a city’s gates. It also appears in Microsoft’s game Age of Empires II.