Ever since watching
Shikaotoko aoniyoshi I had wanted to visit the city of Nara. The place where deer roam the streets and live their day-to-day lives amongst humans. Located not far from Kyoto within the Kansai region of Japan, Nara is a beautiful city. And as with most places in Kansai there is just an air of casualness, easy-going and general meandering which permeates the air.
The deer is the sole attraction of Nara. Legend has it that the God Takemikazuchi had rode to Nara on a white deer to protect the city and that the deer have wandered freely throughout the city ever since. I'm going to go on the record to say that I wholeheartedly believe this to be 100% true. Based on nothing but my love of fantasy and that no true account of why there are so many deer in Nara would ever sound as cool as anything involving a God riding a white deer. I shall not wander at how this one white deer managed to procreate an entire herd of deer. Perhaps it was already pregnant when Takemikazuchi rode it. Or perhaps he had sex with it. What if it were a male deer? Why would a man insist on riding a pregnant dear tho'!?
Whatever the God did to that deer thousands of years ago, what we have now is a city full of 'em and Nara is theirs. Us mere humans are just visitors to it. Paying them courtesy by petting them, feeding them, protecting them and going upside their heads when they act up to remind them to stay humble and that they don't have hands to feed themselves biscuits. Reco'nize.
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| A Deer doing its daily grocery shop |
It is such a surreal experience to wander into a city and see Deer at bus stops, deer in shops, deer placing orders at Mister donut. It's an amazing sight to see humans co-existing with animals on such a scale. It was like something out of a Disney movie. But despite the cuteness and general intermingling between people and the deer, there are signs everywhere informing the public to be cautious, because they are still wild animals. This doesn't stop kids from putting their baseball caps on deer and throwing up the peace sign in pictures with them though. Risky...but amusing and something I'd witnessed numerous times, but was unable to capture on camera at the risk of looking dodgy. Japanese people are wary enough of 6 foot black men, without adding fuel to the fire by taking pictures of young kids. I am not about that life.
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| This is what I want my house to look like |
Nara is also the home of the Tōdai-ji temple. I spent more time taking pictures on the walk up to this temple than I did marvelling the sights inside, because the temple is such a simple and elegant spectacle. For me, this is really something; because I'll be one of the first people to say
'All the temples look the damn same' when it comes to Japanese temples. But the size of this one in particular was magnificent and completely unexpected. I guess it would have to be, to be home to the world's largest bronze Buddha statue.
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| There's a level in Street Fighter IV which looks like this... |
Nara is an amazing place to visit, because it is so surreal. And for me being a 6 foot black gaijin, it was nice to be in a place where locals were so focused on the deer that nobody so much as batted an eyelid at me. Even with all the deer roaming around sniffing your pockets for biscuits and the volume of visitors, there is a nice sense of serenity about the area which makes it a great place to visit whether you are visiting as a family, a couple, rolling solo or you are an elderly traveller. Nara as a city is a nice place to getaway to if you want a break from the hustle and bustle of the metropolitan parts of Osaka or Kyoto.
Having been fortunate enough to visit Nara during the Summer and the Spring, I would recommend visiting Nara in the Summer. It will be as hot as fuck and you will sweat like a bitch. But there will be more deer around. In the Summer they were everywhere; much more lively and willing to interact with you. In the Spring they had zero fucks to give anybody and sat their arses behind fences and bushes until you coaxed them out with a biscuit. Their fur looked grey and diseased, and even by wild animal standards they fucking stank. A far shy from the rich chestnuts coats I saw them sporting in the Summer. Bitches.
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| Rape Deer. He be watching. Always watching. |
Fact: Despite Nara being viewed as such a small place, once upon a time it was the capital of Japan. I guess that Deer government board wasn't as strong as everybody thought it would be.
