Dipping into the largely-untapped reservoir of things I want to post about, here are some pictures from a December 2012 visit to the Todaiji Temple (東大寺) in Nara, about an hour's train ride south of Kyoto. I posted a bit from that trip in “That Massive Column in Nara’s Todaiji Temple Is Nothing To Sneeze At”, but it's a visually rich place, so I've been wanting to post much more.

I'd made the trip to take some pictures for a friend who is the author of Lonely Planet's “Japan” guidebook. A few of the photos from this trip made it into the most recent edition. Another friend, Aeron, was kind enough to make the trek with me.

The Todaiji Temple site is impressively large, dating back almost 1,300 years. On the approach we took is a massive wooden gate that seems to exist merely to set you up for the substantially-more-impressive sights that wait beyond.

Looking through the gate you can see another behind, and beyond that the temple's main building towers so high that you can't see the top of its roof.

The gate, called the Great Southern Gate (南大門), is interesting enough in its own right. It was originally built in 962, but the one standing today is a reconstruction built just 815 years ago. (The sign near the top of the photo is new, giving 「大華厳寺」, apparently an old name for the temple.)

Here's a shot exposed to reveal the detail under the roof:

As with many temple gates, two guardians flank the sides of the gate. (Wikipedia tells me they're called Kongorikishi, and describes them as “wrath-filled muscular guardians of the Buddha”). They're almost 25½ feet tall, so they're almost 4½ times my height. Their situation is not conducive to good photos, but here's one:

The other statue, at my back while taking this shot, was carved in 1203. This one dates from the same era, though I couldn't find out for sure what year this one was carved.

Here's a wigglegram to make you feel as if you're there; wiggle your mouse over the image...

Moving then beyond the gate, you can see the next gate and, far beyond that, the roof of the main temple building...

The deer in Nara can be extremely aggressive, and I can report from personal experience that they have no qualms about coming up behind you to bite the bag out of your hand if you just bought a snack from a vendor. Care should be taken with fingers and small children.

Of course, tourist can't always provide breakfast, so some deer are forced to fend for themselves...

Once you enter the paid area, your get your first clean view of the main temple building, which is stupendously large for an all-wooden building constructed hundreds of years ago....

To be continued...