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Theresa O’Connor / Treasa Ní Chonchúir

A day trip to 奈良 (Nara)

Part of our

The thing EJ was most excited about seeing in Japan were the 日本鹿（nihonjika） (Sika deer) in 奈良（Nara）.

A child in a blue dress poses in front of a shika deer.
A child in a blue dress poses in front of a shika deer.

She hadn’t wanted to feed them, but after wandering in 奈良公園（Nara Park） and seeing many of them, she changed her mind. We spent ¥200 on a packet of 鹿煎餅（shikasenbei） and we each fed a couple deer.

A child in a blue dress holds a shika-senbei out to a shika deer.
A shika deer takes a shika-senbei out of the hand of a child in a blue dress.
The camera looks over the shoulder of a child. Directly in front of the child, facing the camera, is a shika deer.

She bought a cute little plush shika deer as a souvenir.

Shot from above, a child sits in a seat on a train. Her seat tray is deployed, and on it, she is playing with a small plush toy of a shika deer.

While I enjoy the deer as much as anyone, personally, I was more excited to return to 東大寺（Tōdai-ji）, which Eryn and I saw two years ago. Putting aside the 大仏（Daibutsu） itself, the 大仏殿（Daibutsuden） it’s housed in is incredible—for many centuries, it was the largest wooden structure in the world.

An unbelievably enormous, multi-level wooden gate stands above a large crowd of tourists.
A chery tree is blooming in front of a large, traditional Japanese building.
A large Buddhist temple stands in front of a pond, and is reflected in it.
A very large bronze Buddha holds one hand up. There is a golden throne visible behind the Buddha. The room the Buddha is sitting in is elaborately made of wood.
A large stone statue of a Buddhist guardian figure.
A large stone statue of a Buddhist guardian figure.