Horyuji - it's like history

two sunday's ago we went to Horyuji to see the worlds oldest wooden building. We got there pretty early, around 7am i think. It's on the way to Nara, so about 1hr on the train. From the station it was a 20min walk to the temple grounds. Luckily we accidentally found the tourist information centre on the way and found out we could get a guide for free. I can't remember our guides name but he only usually works a couple of days a month so we were lucky to get the only english guide for the tour. He was a really nice old guy who goes to Nova (big english school) once a week and wanted to use his english. He took us on a tour for about three hours and i learnt a lot about japanese history and buddhism. It was a bit strange for mika going sightseeing in japan with a japanese english tour guide but his english was a mix of english and japanese so was easy for her to understand. I think they both forgot they were japanese for a while because they started having a conversation in english.

anyway Ikaruga temple was built first built in 607 along with a buddha statue, Yakushi Nyorai (arrival as a healer). The temple and budha was built by prince Shotoku and empress suiko who was actually the first female emperor /empress of japan. Prince shotoku is famous for being able to listen to 10 conversations at the same time and give the correct answer to each. Useful if you want to have multiple wives.

here's me and mika outside the temple grounds. above my head you can see the top of the pagoda (Goju no to) which is the oldest five story pagoda in japan. The pagoda is the most important structure in a budhist temple and is the place where the relics of a buddha are enshrined. the pointy thing at the top weighs 7 tonnes and is supported by one pole.

Here's the same view without me and mika. As you can see there are a lot of school kids here. Apparently 80% of high school kids in japan do a school trip here. to the right of the pagoda is the main gate to the temple complex. itw as built in 711. It has two large guards standing either side. we found out that one always has its mouth open and the other shut. its because the sound ahh is the sound that starts the word day and mmmm is the sound that starts the word for night. so you have a day and night watchmen. to the right you can see the roof of horyu which is the temple built in 607.

again this is the pagoda goju no to which. there were some amazing statues inside but of course no photos allowed. This pagoda is known to have a femine form because it tapers from top to bottom so is supposed to be more beautiful. i guess tapers is a nice way of saying big ass.

here is Kondo (main hall) built in 607. Inside was amazing with many clay statues. the pine trees in front have been capped because a few years ago there was a typhoon heading towards the area and people were afraid of a foreign tree falling on them.