In “Massive Support Column at Nara's Todai-ji Temple” I noted that of the many massive columns in the 320-year-old “Hall of the Great Buddha” (until recently the largest wooden building in the world), one particular column was quite special.

The columns, including this one, are about 20 meters (65 feet) tall; impressive any way you look at them.

It was very dark inside this cavernous building, with what light there was mixed among scattered incandescent floodlights and ever-changing skylight wafting in from the occasional window. Adjusting color balance on these shots has been a nightmare, even with ample use of the color chart, because the lighting changes with each location, and over time as clouds passed.

I think it's accurate to say that every person who paused for a photo flashed a peace sign. This is exceedingly common in Japan (much to the angst of non-Japanese), but here the saturation rate was a full 100%.

The unknown girl who opens this post played her part by flashing a peace sign for me, but I much prefer her natural reaction to the situation, seen 1.5 seconds earlier...

Of course, I had to give it a try.

I'm 192cm (6'4") tall, but I've gotten into pretty good shape in the last year (continuing to lose fat beyond how I was here), so I thought there might be a chance I could do it. But even if I couldn't, the attempt would make for funny pictures. Aeron had never used my model of camera, but I imposed on him to take pictures for me...

One thing I haven't mentioned yet is just why people are climbing through a hole in a column in a temple housing a huge (15 meter tall) Buddha statue.

Well, I don't know why people climb through beyond the obvious “because it's there”, nor, for that matter, why the hole was made in the first place, but the salient point is that the hole is the size of one nostril of the Great Buddha statue that the building houses.

奈良の東大寺の大仏殿で、一本の柱は穴が有ります。穴の大きさは大仏の鼻の穴の大きさと同じです。面白！

So, I guess, folks climbing through are pretending to be Buddha snot?

Continued here...