Nara and Osaka

10.07.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 24th May 2006

Big Buddha at Tudaig Temple in Nara

We left Kyoto early this morning to travel on to Nara and then on to Osaka. Nara is famous for its temples and shrines, most of which are contained in it's park. Osaka whilst a major city was really just a night stop for us although there is a Human Rights museum I would have liked to have seen but time beat us.

Tudaig Temple, Nara

In Nara we firstly saw the Kofukuji Temple and then the Tudaig Temple. The Tudaig Temple is the countries largest wooden building and contains the countries largest Buddha and he is very impressive and very big!

An octagonal Temple in Nara

Nara was the birth-site of the Japanese civilisation and religion and as a result has many of the oldest statues including 14 from the 8th century, nine of which are dry-lacquered and hollow and four of which are clay. We also visited the Kasuga Talisha Shrine and Gangoji Temple before heading off to Osaka.