Day 216 - 3rd of April

10:03pm　特急

天気：晴れ

It’s a beautiful, sunny day and Julie and I are on our way to Nara, to do some sightseeing; it’s going to be amazing. Although we’re standing up, at least we’re not squished up against the doors like we we’re on the way to Tambabashi earlier this morning. After walking around for a while in Nara Park, we’re going to get back on the train to go to Tenri, to meet with the class for the field trip.

5:09pm　天理

We’re on the train, in the station, just about to make our way back to Tambabashi; have to change over at Hirakata. Today was wonderful… After getting to Nara, Julie and I slowly made our way over to Todaiji; we went a very roundabout way. We walked past the ward office, under the road, and through a suburban area, to 吉城公園 (Yoshishiro Koen); I had been there before with Diego, Jessica and Carly. After walking around the garden, we continued on, past houses and temples. On the train, we had seen so many sakura in the distance, flying by…

5:24pm　特急

We just changed over at 平端 (Hirahata – not to be confused with Hirakata)… but now, we were up close and personal with hundreds of sakura trees, most in full bloom; overload of beauty. We were also able to get up close and personal with the deer; Julie was so happy. They were all looking a bit stuffy, but I put that down to the fact that they were losing their winter coats. We made our way around the back of Todaiji, and went up into the hills, passing groups of painters and sketchers; they were all amazingly talented. Julie described the area as heavenly, and I had to agree; Nara is breathtaking! We walked back down the hill, which was covered in sakura, and there was this beautiful big old tree green on one side with moss. As we were making our way over to Todaiji, a foreign woman come up to us and asked if I could take her picture; turns out she was from Sydney. I was of course happy to oblige, and in return, she took a photo of us, and then wished as a happy trip; little did she know we were actually studying here. After that, we marvelled at Todaiji (I’m always amazed at the sheer size of it), and then continued back out of the complex to enter the deer park. There was a huge open space skirted be sakura, and many people were picnicking, kicking around soccer balls, or just enjoying the fine weather; although, it was starting to get a little cloudy.

We sat down in the park, and I enjoyed my apple after spraying myself with a nearby bubbler; it shot so high. A deer came up to us, and I fed it my apple core, before it proceeded to slobber on my bag. We rested for a bit longer, and then made our way back to the station; again taking a very roundabout route. We walked to the pagoda, past Nanendo and down to the lake I had been to before; the one with all the sunbathing turtles. There was a guy nearby playing the shamisen; I really want to try playing it one day. We decided to go back to the station via the shopping district, which was bustling. I bought a butaman (pork dumpling) from a convenience store and it’s seen me through till now; I’m really not that hungry. We walked past a shop where two guys were pounding mochi in a big barrel with wooden mallets; I was so glad to finally see the process. One thing that wasn’t very heavenly about Nara was the lack of ATM’s that would accept our cards; we were both low on funds. Seeing us in one of the cash corners in the shopping arcade, a young woman kindly gave us directions to another ATM (one that “might” work), knowing that these one’s wouldn’t.

So we decided to try it. Funny thing was, when we exited the arcade, the woman suddenly reappeared and redirected us to a different building which was just across the street; I wondered if she had followed us. Unfortunately when we got there, we found nothing resembling an ATM. So, still unperturbed, we tried two other ATMs nearby, and even these wouldn’t accept our cards; there was one that was exactly the same as the one at uni too! Finally, we resigned to the fact that we’d just have to go without; we had enough for transport, so that was the main thing. We went back to the station, and took the train to 大和西大寺 (Yamato Saidaiji). There, we had to wait quite a while for the train to Tenri; we looked around the shops and munched on a few free samples. By the time we got to Tenri, we were about half an hour late. There was a very helpful map right outside the station, and it proved to be really easy to get to the Tenrikyo headquarters; directly east through a shopping arcade. This arcade greatly contrasted with that of Nara’s; it was quite dead, and it just had an old fashioned feel about it. And when I say old fashioned, I don’t mean ancient, I mean about 30 years ago. Emerging from the arcade, an immense Buddhist-looking building came into sight…

6:13pm　特急

We’re on the train back to Makino now. So, where was I? Oh yeah… big, impressive, Buddhist-looking building; one to rival Todaiji in fact. This was the Tenrikyo Sanctuary!!! We were both awestruck as we marvelled at its size and beauty, before coming back down to earth and realising we still had the task of finding the class. Having no idea where they could be, we decided to just enter the building, taking our shoes off at the bottom of the steps. The interior was equally impressive, tatami mats spanning out before us. Miraculously, we soon spotted the class on the other side of the hall. We found our way around to them, and sat down on the tatami; the class was asking Hiroshi, our guide, questions. We’ve made it to Kuzuha…

9:18pm　セミナーハウス

I’m just about to go to karaoke with Rachel and Ash. We’ve been playing an awesome card game in the kitchen with Julie, Brett, Sam, Chelsea, Jeremy and Liz, called “Mad Scientist University”. Basically, each round someone is the teacher, and they draw a card from the “assignment” pile, and dictate that to the “class”. Then it’s everyone else’s job to come up with ideas about how to best complete this assignment using the “unstable element” they are dealt; the more outlandishly demented the idea the better. I felt a really silly at first, but after a while you just get into it and say the stupidest things, and as long as you come across as confident, you’re sweet; it was an absolute cack…

10:04pm　カラオケ　－　牧野

We just got to karaoke; Rachel and Ash generously payed for me. Well, I guess I should finish off telling my day… After the questions, we prayed (clap 4 times bow – long, clap 4 times bow – short) and then continued the tour through the sanctuary. We had another session in front of the “residence” of the founderess, a focal point for prayer. Hiroshi explained that the founderess basically withdrew from her physical form, after realising her being alive was causing too much trouble for her followers; there was a huge crack down on religions other than Shinto during the Meiji restoration. However, her spiritual form continues to reside in Tenri. She has a house, and every day they draw a bath and serve her food, and they even change the linen; I find it fascinating. After another round of questions, we prayed again, and then went on to yet another room of worship. Here, Hiroshi explained Tenrikyo follower’s beliefs about death. They believe in Reincarnation but, unlike Buddhism, which is pretty much all about pain and suffering, Tenrikyo promotes the pursuit of happiness; you are continuously reborn in hopes that you will achieve lasting happiness. Also there is no heaven or hell; earth itself can be heaven if you obtain true happiness. In this room, there were three mirrors – the central one dedicated to the leaders proceeding the founderess (after her, there haven’t been any other female leaders); the one on the right, to the high ranking ministers and; the one on the left to all the followers of Tenrikyo. We prayed to each respectively, and then made our way back around to the front of the complex.

After getting our shoes on, Hiroshi showed those of us who were interested how to do the 手踊り (te odori – “hand dance”), which is accompainied by a song, as part of praying and other services; it was actually pretty cool. Then rest of the class went off to the sakura, but was soon caught up with them anyway. The professor knew where there was a huge tree, but unfortunately we found it to have already lost most of its flowers. It was such a shame, because it was absolutely massive and would have looking incredible in full bloom; to others of similar size nearby were in the same state. All the branches were supported by an intricate arrangement of poles and brackets. Finally, we made our way back to the main building and got a group photo in front of it, before parting with Hiroshi, and making our way back to the station. On the way, Julie noticed there were banners that were wishing “oyasama” (the affectionate name for the founderess) a happy birthday, and I remembered Hiroshi was just telling us about the fact that they celebrated her birthday, and it was coming up soon; it’s actually the 18^th of this month. It supposed to be a really huge event, and there is heaps of preparation going into it.

Getting back to Makino, Julie and I got our bikes out of the gutter; we had parked them there on purpose to escape receiving a ticket for not paying for parking. Unfortunately that didn’t end up working out so well, and we found the warning tickets on both of our bikes; I guess it really just depends on how anal the particular security guard that’s on duty at the time is. Indeed, I’ve got away with parking there at least twice; oh well. Anyway, we rode back and Julie went straight up to the kitchen feeling starved; she hadn’t eaten much all day. I soon joined her after dumping my stuff in my room. I put on a pizza (margarita) and was soon enjoying that; so cheap and tasty. Not sure whether or not we would be going to karaoke tonight, I waited in the kitchen, hoping Ash or Rachel would turn up; and they did, Ash just as we started playing Mad Scientist University, and Rachel about 3 rounds in…

11:21pm

Well that was my day. Now it’s time to enjoy the rest of the night singing…