談山神社

談山神社

1.19.2012

Horyuji-Temple in Winter


It's cold day


Horyuji-temple is the oldest woody building in the world that was built in A.D.607 by the Emperor Suiko and Prince Shotoku. Its site is about 187000 square meters. It was  registered the first  on UNESCO's World Heritage list in Japan that has about 2300 national treasures and cultural heritages .
It takes about 30 minutes to the southwest from Nara city by car.


The second gate and a five-storied pagoda-------pillars of Entasis style


I happened to find  this dragon ( this year's zodiac sign in Chinese astrology) under the roof of the main temple.



The main temple has "Syaka-Sanzon-Zo" (sitting Buddha statue)or "The Wall-Painting" or  "the canopy".We could see them well as the safety wire net was taken off during this term.
I thought the face of Syaka(Buddha) was longer.
The wall paintings painted by Bengala or so on  reminded me of the wall painting of Dunhuang in Chaina or Ajanta in India  but regrettably it was disappeared by the fire, now they are replicas except few.
The canopy  has  the mood of Asian Minor  and flying celestial nymphs etc are painted on it.

A part of " the wall painting" restored (Image by NHK)


There was "Tamamushi-no-Zushi"(zushi means Buddhist altar. Tamamushi means a buprestid or a jewel beetle)  inside a glass case for security. Though the doors of it were open, as it's a little dark, we couldn't see the reverse of the door well. A woman in charge wiping the glass case lighted the reverse of the door with her flashlight and as a next man was watching it with his small telescope, we borrowed  it. Thanks to a flashlight and a telescope,  we could see lots of small Buddhas on the reverse of the doors.
The woman said "let's take with a flashlight and a telescope ,not a camera when you go see the statue  of Buddhas."
 Kindly she fetched the specimen of a real Tamamushi( buprestid or jewel beetle).   I heard the lots of  wings of jewel beetles were mounted under the fretwork metal fittings of Tamamushi-no-zushi. I thought it must have looked like jewel. Now they disappeared, of course.

We learned about these national treasures in our junior high school students. But I saw them for the first time.
    
Tamamushi (Image by Mushinavi)


The fence of camellia



The second gate. Horyuji's heraldry on cloths


Why didn't birds eat this gorgeous feast?

A decoration of sacred straw rope of Cyuguji-temple(a part of Horyuji-temple).........It differ from our houses'


I was interested in "Kudara-Kannon-zou". This Goddess of Mercy is tall,thin and has a small head, so nice delicate  figure. I thought it's unlike that of an average  Japanese Goddess.

 Kudara-Kannon-Zou ( image by Wikipedia)


The real one is brownish (image by wikipedia)


14 件のコメント:

Wendy さんのコメント...

Beautiful pictures, Sarah. Even the beetle is pretty.

Tomoko さんのコメント...

おはようございます。
歴史的な寺法隆寺を、案内して下さってありがとう。冷たい日の夕焼けの中の五重の塔は神秘的ですね。10番目のしめ縄で出来たお飾りはモダンなデザインですが、古い寺にもマッチしていて魅力的です! 寒い中お風邪など召しませんように。See you soon!

Tomoko

haricot さんのコメント...

百済観音は魅力的な観音さまですね。薬瓶とも酒の壜とも言われるボトルを提げて。きっと酒は薬の一種だったのだと思いますけど。
エンタシス形式の柱というのも神秘的ですね。

ruma さんのコメント...

Hello, sarah.

  Your photography is very profound.
  The climate is expressed well.

  Even more severe in winter, but.
  Your work is embraced in your gentleness.

  Thank you for the warmth of your heart.

  The prayer for all peace.
  寒気増します頃、ご自愛くださいませ。
  
Have a good weekend. ruma ❃

cosmos さんのコメント...

一昨年の修正会に何十年ぶりかで訪れましたが、その時は時間もなく、夜だったのでもう一度ゆっくりと訪れたいです。静かで歴史を感じさせる佇まいがよく表れていますね。

余談ですが、たまたま先日法隆寺から少し行った所に有機野菜のバイキングで知られるレストランに行きましたが、お奨めですよ。

LifeRamblings さんのコメント...

your photos make me want to visit Japan right away. thanks for sharing the beauty.

stardust さんのコメント...

Sara, you made me want to return Horyu-ji! The photo with five-storied pagoda in the header is fabulous! Kudara-kannon is so slender and beautiful with the face influenced by China or Korea. You showed us the sacred rope of Chugu-ji Temple, north to Horyu-ji. Did you enter? I’m a great fan of Miroku-bosatsu with a faint smile on his face. He sits with the fingertips of his right hand just brushing his cheek, elegantly.

Why didn’t birds eat those red berries? Maybe they are not delicious or hard. The red berries of manryo also remain long, while my Nandina’s berries were almost eaten by birds.

See you soon!

sarah さんのコメント...

Wendy,
I've never seen such beautiful beetles. But I think there are a lot of them in Nara.

Red Rose,
I think the sacred rope of Cyuguji is artistic,too. I want to make it of my style by myself next year.

Haricot,
Kudara-Kannon,entasis etc,Horyuji
differ from Todaiji or other temple in Nara city, I felt.

Ruma,
Thank you for warm comment.
What the back sky of the pagoda is the so pale orange look like more winter.

Cosmos,
I felt the temple differ from temples in Nara city. More exotic.
Teach me the restaurant next.

LifeRamblings,
I discovered for the first time the beauty of Horyuji-temple,too.

Stardust,
I couldn't enter Cyuguji. The temple was closed at 4:30P.M. We visited at 4:40P.M.regretably.

Ekaterina Trayt さんのコメント...

The fence of camellia looks interesting! I'm used to different kinds of shrubs for fences.

Arti さんのコメント...

The temple of Horyu-ji is such a splendor. Loved the pics, really beautiful. Also I have visited the Ajanta caves that you talk about, its very similar too...
Hope you are having a wonderful week Sarah:)

Tania さんのコメント...

Wonderful pictures Sarah! Especially I like no 1. And the camellia looks so fresh.. makes me looking forward to Spring.

Hope you have a blessed weekend:-)

snowwhite さんのコメント...

sarah,

どういううわけかコメントを入れても消えてしまいます。3度入れたのですが今見たら消えています。3度とも日は違います。これも消えたらどうしようかと思いながら。

keiko

sarah さんのコメント...

Ekaterina,
Yes, there are many kind of fences in Japan. In winter this color is nice,I think.

Arti,
I like bengala color. This is produced in Bengal,I heard.

Spiderdama,
Yes,this flower fence makes me think that spring comes soon.

Snowwhite,
四回もコメントをありがとうございます。どうして消えるのかわかりません。でも以前私も三回ほど経験しました。それにこの間書いたコメントも動かなくなりました。google側の問題かもしれません。これに懲りずにコメントくださいね。

Admin さんのコメント...

a lot of beautiful and interesting photos here again..hope to visit it in the future..

thanks for sharing and for the visit...

best regards from europe.

See The World
Travel Euroasia
Europe Travel Pad
Countryside Trip
Travel Snapshots