And we're back! Welcome to the combined post for weeks 4 and 5, the former of which involved heavy travelling and the latter of which involved only school.
Speaking of school/obligations, I've found that alas, even living in Japan can do nothing to cure my chronic procrastination. For all those who say that study abroad changed them, it very well might have, but most of your personal traits tend to be quite resilient to change. Unfortunately, this also includes the less-than-desirable traits in addition to our best qualities. As a case in point, by the time this is published, it will be a week later than I intended, in spite of any optimism on my part! For anyone considering studying abroad or finding it hard to overcome personal setbacks like procrastination, my advice is to take a deep breath and do your best to stay on top of your work. Staying in touch with friends and family is also a huge plus, and something that can help immensely when dealing with high levels of stress. Even just talking with loved ones is often enough to kick-start you into action! Just be wary of a potential scolding from those familiar with your antics.
Regardless, the weekend of the 9th was a fantastic trip, and if you ever find yourself in Japan, I recommend that you visit both Osaka and Nara. We started our journey early on Saturday; barely awake, I hopped in a cab along with Sasaki-san and Scott, the other Tufts student who is studying in Kanazawa this semester. We reached the station shortly after that, and then boarded our train to Osaka. Arriving in the evening, our first stop was to the Osaka Museum of History (which had a different name that I can't for the life of me remember). I was again struck by just how different Japanese history is from American history; Japan has well-documented events dating back to 600 A.D. and even earlier, while our country in its current state is barely 300 years old. Another fun fact, the current city of Osaka was the capital of Japan around the 7th century! To be fair, the capital wasn't fixed at that point in time and many cities can claim this distinction, but unlike Osaka, they can't claim to be Japan's first ever capital city.
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| Pots! Cups! Tools! |
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| One of the many dioramas detailing parts of Old Osaka; Japanese museums are full of dioramas, apparently |
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| What a picture! You can see Osaka Castle from the museum (and there's a rainbow) |
After we finished up at the museum, we hastily made our way to 大阪城 (Osaka-jyo), one of Japan's more famous castles. I'll be honest, we were a bit pressed for time and kind of had to scramble up to the top of the castle before it closed, so I don't have many pictures of the interior, but I did get to learn a bit about its distinguished history as I quite literally raced up the castle. Construction started around 1583 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a distinguished nobleman who helped end Japan's "Warring States" period. Honestly, I'm just going to throw a link to the "History of Japan" video because 1. It's hilarious, and 2. It actually does a decent job at explaining the basics of Hideyoshi and what he accomplished. Anyway, the story behind the castle in particular is that Hideyoshi wanted to one-up his former ruler, Oda Nobunaga. What better way to say "I'm better than you" than by building a castle that's based off of your boss's but is bigger and more extravagant? Also, sadly Hideyoshi died the same year the castle was completed (1597), but at least his son got to inherit it, sort-of. And here are some picutres!
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| 大阪所 |
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| The view from Osaka Castle (featuring authentic chain-link fencing) |
Lots of pictures and a brief time later, we descended the castle and decided to go for dinner at a local mall. I was exhausted by the time we got to our hotel rooms (which were incredibly comfortable, by the way). Turns out travelling makes you pretty tired, who knew?
After a good night's sleep and a quick hotel breakfast on Sunday, we headed over to a smaller, local museum outside of the city proper. It was owned by a local family (who also owned all the property surrounding it and seemed pretty rich), and provided a unique glimpse into Japan's early-modern period. I also want a Japanese-style garden now, because it had one and everything was cultivated and calculated to be aesthetically pleasing. I'm not even kidding, one of the staff told us the big tree in the middle was cut in the same way as a bonsai, impressive considering it was at least 20 times bigger than one.
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| So sculpted |
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| A selfie from inside for good measure (I look exhausted ha) |
What came next, however, was much more exciting than any local museum! We met up with one of Sasaki-san's friends, and she took us to experience a local festival known as だんじり祭り (danjiri matsuri), a festival mostly unique to the Osaka-area. Interestingly, most of my Japanese friends know very little about this festival, as I found out after our return to the University. They are definitely local and not regional festivals, and to be able to experience it was truly amazing. For starters, we were the only foreigners; since coming to Japan, I'd always been surrounded by at least one or two foreigners when travelling Japan. It helped shatter the image I'd been building up of Japan, and that was one of the best things that's happened to me here so far.
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| The shrine's gates are visible behind the many people preparing for the ceremony |
The festival itself features huge wooden carts crafted in the shape of temples or shrines. I'm not actually sure what they're called; some sources say they're だんじり, but I also found some that called them だんじりぐるま (danjiri guruma). Whatever the case, they are magnificent and beautiful to behold. In each neighborhood that celebrates だんじり祭り, there are different "guilds" from certain parts of town, each with their own cart and decorative costumes, known as 法被 (happi); each guild's happi is a different color and pattern. The carts are pulled by teams of men, and are directed by a rider on top. There are also people inside who play traditional Japanese flutes and drums to provide both the pullers in front and the steerers (I know this isn't a real word but I'm too lazy to look up the right term) in back with a rhythm. Oh, and another fun fact, most of the carts are at least decades old, if not older, and are stored in warehouses for most of the year, until it's time to begin decorating them.だんじり祭り itself helps ensure a good harvest in the coming months, and it was so easy to get into a celebratory spirit while watching the local guilds commence with the festival. I'd never seen anything quite like it, and you could almost feel the history entwined the danjiri's rituals. I hope one day I get to witness this local tradition again!
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| Getting ready to pull the coat! These guys were wearing red happi coats |
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| The valiantly posed man on top jumped from side to side while waving fans and directing the cart |
After the last cart pulled away, we went across the street into the shrine it had started out to witness a purification ceremony, featuring lots of local boys a bit too young to partake in danjiri itself. I couldn't quite follow what was going on, but I could tell that the theme again revolved around ensuring a good harvest (also, Sasaki-san told us it did). We also made wishes in the shrine, which was quite calming. After tossing money into a trough-shaped wooden object, you ring a bell hanging in front of it, bow twice, make your wish, and finish with a bow. I think. I was again saved from embarrassment by Sasaki-san, and I know there is a right way to do this, but don't take my word for it. Also, as we left the temple, I swore I could feel some sort of divine presence watching over us. Well, either that or it was just the wind, but I'd like to think something out there received my wish and was watching over me.
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| Purification time at the shrine |
The rest of the day was jammed with more activities, and I was left feeling tired again by the time evening rolled around. We visited a danjiri museum, witnessed another danjiri festival in a different place, got to see the ending of the festival, and wandered around a sacred island for a bit before heading back to the restaurant for dinner.
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| We talked to the boys in front and they were exhausted after 8 hours of this |
Another night of sound sleep and we were up and at 'em early again: it was time for us to say farewell to Osaka and head to the nearby city of Nara, which also used to be Japan's capital at one point in time. Nara felt very different from Osaka in that it was very much operating in harmony with nature; outside of the downtown area, there were trees all around us, and the temples here were on the outskirts of ancient forests.
If you know nothing about Nara, at least take away from my post that it is famous for the multidue of 鹿 (shika), or deer. And I don't use multitude lightly here; these things were everywhere, crossing streets with us, napping sidewalks, and strolling through temples along with wide-eyed tourists. In ages past, the Japanese people living around Nara considered the deer sacred messengers of the gods (especially the rare white deer), and let them live alongside humans in peace. As time went on, the deer and people kept co-existing, and today they are a huge draw for Nara. It was pretty wild to see the deer all around us; I even decided to pet a few, whose weary side-eyed looks told me I was okay as long as I didn't try anything else. They also LOVED food, and if you buy special deer-treats to feed them, will bow before accepting the food. I'm pretty sure American cities need to step their game up, because Japan's cities are doing a pretty fantastic job of being unique and interesting.
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| Deer! |
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| Another deer! |
While in Nara, we did three main things: first, we saw a local antler-cutting ceremony; then, we went to 春日大社 (Kasugataisha), a famous Shinto shrine; and finally, we visited 東大寺 (Todaiji), a famous Buddhist temple.
Starting with the antler-cutting ceremony, known as 鹿の角切 (shika no tsunokiri), the three of us bought tickets and were shepherded into an ovular arena, with stands overlooking a grassy area. In this area, three male deer were butting heads and prancing around the perimeter. Then, as the ceremony got underway, one by one they were caught by men wearing happi coats, given a drink of water, and had their antlers sawed off. While the ceremony might look cruel, the process is painless for the bucks; they can't feel pain in their antlers, and the process helps the deer and the city in the long run. As fall arrives, the male deer get aggressive, and they inavadvertenly destroy trees and can even hurt people as they fight for mates. After their antlers are cut off, the bucks are much less likely to damage their surroundings, and Nara is much safter with antler-less males. This ceremony has been going on for at least 400 years, and while a bit crowded, it was still quite a sight to behold.
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| Antler-cutting |
After our turn witnessing the ceremony came to an end, we were ushered back towards the entrance, and headed on our way to Kasugataisha. Along with Todaiji, Kasugataisha is part of the UNESCO world heritage grouping called "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara," and it's easy to see why. The path to the temple is lined with thousands of ancient stone lanterns, and deer wander in and out of them at will. The temple itself is magnificent and honestly indescribable; it is known for its numerous stone and metal lanterns, which were beautiful to behold. In one room of the shrine, the only light came from glowing metal lanterns. Reflected in walls made of mirrors, I lost myself in their endless shimmering beauty. I once more experienced a sensation of other-worldliness, and I was so moved that as I left the temple I even bought a souvenir in the form of a white wooden deer and a fortune.
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| Thousands of these makes for some nice scenery |
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| The golden lanterns were special but I forgot to ask what they represented |
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| The mirrors make it feel like the lanterns are endless |
Our final stop for the trip was Todaiji, a Buddhist temple renowned for housing the largest bronze statue of Buddha in the world, known as 大仏 (daibutsu) in Japanese. This temple was massive. Parts of it had burned down long in the past, but the entrance gates and main temple remained standing, and the sheer scale of it took my breath away. Past the entrance, incense smoldered, and we paused to light incense sticks to help with our bodily pains. Then, before I knew it, we had traversed the main walkway and were stepping into the interior of the main temple. Right before us, looming out of the gloom, was the daibutsu. Considering how hard it is for me to make even the simplest of things, I couldn't believe something like that was possible. The entire temple was built on a scale that felt like it wasn't designed for humans, and the distinctly Japanese style of the temple combined with its scale made for some fantastic pictures.
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| One of the many gates |
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| The Temple's main building in the distance |
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| It's pretty popular here |
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| It's hard to get a good picture but I promise, this thing is huge |
Finally, as the sun began to set, we made our way back towards the center of Nara, and boarded a train to Kyoto. After a quick stop for dinner, we were on our way again, returning to the University. We actually didn't get any sitting room for the first hour so it was a bit painful, but we met some very friendly Japanese women heading back from a wedding and ended up talking with them in (less-than-perfect, of course) Japanese. I was officially beat by the time we staggered back into our dormitory, but the entire trip was so fun, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
And that was the trip! Looking into the future, I really hope I can take someone to these cities one day, and hopefully show them the things that made such an impression on me. Japan is truly a magical place, and I now wholeheartedly believe everyone should visit it at some point. You won't be disappointed, I can promise that!
I know this post is supposed to be about weeks 5 and 6, but to be honest nothing really happened the week after the trip. I was busy with classes, and took some much-needed recuperation time the weekend afterwards; besides some wonderful Skype conversations, there's not much to write about. I expect I'll make a post or two in the future revolve around classes in Japan, but that's for another time.
Thanks for reading again, especially if you've made it all the way to the end! Even if you skipped to the end, I guess that's okay too. I'll have a small post up in the next few days about the most recent week, but it was relatively quiet as well, so I won't write much. We also have exams coming up this week, and my trip to Tokyo is Thursday, which means next week's post will be longer anyway.
Thank you all, hopefully this is providing a nice way for friends and family at home to stay up-to-date with my travels. Until next time, さよなら!
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