One Week To Go

After six months of travel, I am still smiling and happy.

Here I am at Horyuchi Temple, which is in the outskirts of Nara. This temple has the oldest wooden building in the world. It is 1300 years old. Most of the other wooden temples have been destroyed by fire, earthquake, or neglect, so it is rare to find one still standing after so long.

The temples (and traditional wooden houses) are made from Japanese Cedar, which is an insect-proof hardwood. It is also affected very little by changes in humidity and heat. Otherwise, weather cycles would cause expansion and contraction of the wooden joints (no nails are used in these structures) and eventually the joints would become loose and the structure would weaken.

Shortly after entering the temple, I was approached by a woman who is training to become a guide for English-speaking tourists. She was looking for a solo traveler to practice on, so I had another free guide for the morning. It was good, because I learned a lot more about the temple and the Japanese form of Buddhism than I could from the temple’s brochure.