推 RATY:玄真的超級超級無敵難找...= = 07/15 23:48
→ hemels:但樓上還是找到了？XD 07/16 06:14
網誌英文版：http://liztseng-blog.logdown.com/posts/17848-day-9-deer-nara
行程：興福寺 --> "玄" 蕎麥麵 --> 東大寺 --> 水谷茶屋
--> 春日大社 --> ひより 懷石料理
The morning Kintetsu train brought us to Nara.
Nara is a small city that is known for two things.
The beautiful 東大寺（Toudaiji) that is home to the famous
奈良の大仏 (The Great Buddha of Nara), and deer.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9354.jpg
In fact, for some people, the deer might be a stronger attraction to
them than the buddha, who is far less cute and feedable.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9335.jpg
That's right, feeding deer is an option here. In fact, I think some of
the deer has gotten so used to the deer biscuits they feel quite entitled
to it. Walk along the roadside of Nara Park or within the confines of
the Toudaiji, and you'll see deer perking up their ears and eyeing you
for snacks.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9315.jpg
I've been to Nara when I was young and with a tour group. I remember
feeding the deer. As a kid that must have excited me. Now I just feel
concerned. They're still considered wildlife, yet all these booths with
signs that say "Nara Deer Care Group" and sell a stack of deer biscuits
for 150 Yen hardly make me feel like they are looking out for the
wellbeing of the deer. But well, I'm not one to judge what's good for
deer or not, and I realize they have become part of the tourism.
And for sure, their presence adds to the historical atmosphere.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9367.jpg
Ah, but first, lunch! To revenge my utter failure at lunch the day
before --- I did not even want to blog about it, let's just say I had
the world's WORST ramen at a chain store in Nipponbashi, I should know
that otaku-ness and gourmet don't mix! --- I purposefully looked for
what's good in Nara and went in search of this soba-ya called 玄 (gen).
Now, I've been in Japan for 9 days, and I still don't get how Japanese
people find their way. There are no roads or streets or avenues, just
[name of the ward] - [section] - [number] - [number]. Sure, the
sections ("chou") are in numerical order, but how the hell can I
visualize that in my head when I'm walking down the street on a hot day
and see Chou #2 next to me to know which direction Chou #3 - 5 - 13 is??
Nara was even more impossible. Yes, there are address --- *on websites*,
but not in real life! Seriously, I walked for 30 min and saw not a
single address plate. Not even ward signs. I guess Nara is a small city
where the mailman knows where every household is.
To find the soba-ya, I walked towards its general direction using my
Google map snapshot I'd taken earlier in the day. Then I asked locals
for directions. Luckily, *everyone* knows this soba-ya. It's uber famous
(or it could be the only soba-ya in town). It's at the dead end of an
alley. No way I could've been able to find this without local guidance.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_120614.jpg
The restaurant is 100% traditional style. Tatami room with three large
sitting tables and a view to the backyard.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_114019.jpg
How was the soba?
100% worth the walk! It was super chewy (as buckwheat noodles should be) and
refershingly cold! We also ordered soba tofu (I guess that's buckwheat tofu)
which had a similar creamy texture to the sesame tofu of Koyasan.
After a satisfactory lunch, it was time to head towards Toudaiji.
But wait...there's a sweets store nearby!
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9463.jpg
The store, called とらや (toraya), is also 100% traditional Japanese sweets
shop looking.
One should realize the Japanese are very cunning when it comes to selling
their sweets. They make it into...irresistible form.
http://tinyurl.com/o6r2w6f
I know not how one can resist a mochi that looks like this! So I ate one!
Finally, I can be on my way to Toudaiji.
Like many of Japan's ancient architecture, the current Toudaiji was rebuit
in the Edo period and restored in the Meiji era. The original one was built
in ... 8AD! No surprise that this temple has been burned down several times.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9373.jpg
The buddha himself has also went through several reincarnations (pun intended).
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9382.jpg
It is a massive buddha, with a height of 14.7m (48 feet) and a base
circumference of 70m (230 feet).
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9388.jpg
In the West, it's churches that get to justify splurging on constructions of
heavenly proportions. In the Orient, it is buddhas and their temples.
Toudaiji was filled with tourists, yet once one steps outside of the temple
and walk towards the lesser famous surrounding sites, things quickly quiet down.
We swung by 二月堂 (February Hall), so named because some buddhist ritual
used to take place every February here. It overlooks the city of Nara
and is a nice place to sit down and relax for a bit.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9407.jpg
From February Hall, we turned south towards 春日大社 (Kasuga Daisha) and
came to a completely neglected shrine called 八幡神社 (Hachiman jinja).
What caught my interest was this old painting on the wall:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9412.jpg
It's the story of 源頼光（Minamoto no Yorimitsu) subduing 土蜘蛛 (Tsuchigumo).
I always like a little ancient folklore for distraction. Yorimitsu is
a famous warrior in the medieval times (平安時代, Heian period). Several
versions of Tsuchigumo exists:
According to 土蜘蛛草紙 (Tsuschigumo soushi), tsuchigumo (direct translation
is "Earth Spider") is a giant spider that lives in the mountains;
it eats humans (no surprise) and is considered a formidable monster.
While travelling in the mountains outside Kyoto, Yorimitsu came upon
flying skulls, which he pursued and followed into a deserted shelter,
upon which various monsters showed up and tormented him all night.
Towards dawn, a beautiful woman appeared to mesmerize him, but Yorimitsu
saw through the disguise and was about to swing his sword at it. The
beauty dissppeared, leaving a trail of white blood that led Yorimitsu
into a mountain cave. There he killed the giant earth spider and within
its belly found 1990 human skulls.
Another version of the story comes from 平家物語 (Tale of the Heike). When
Yorimitsu in bed was suffering from malaria, a 7-foot-tall monk appeared
and bound him with rope. Yorimitsu cut off the rope with his sword.
The next day, he followed the trail of blood to the spider's hideout
behind a shrine and killed it.
But I digress. Before entering Kasuga Daisha, we stopped by a traditional
tea shop. The way the shop is set up, where there are tatami-padded
benches with sun umbrellas outside the shop so that people could enjoy
the view, is a scene I strongly associate with the Edo era Kyoto,
probably because I watch too much Japanese drama and anime :)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9424.jpg
We were further away from the major tourist crowd, so the deer here were
a lot less nosey, and mostly kept to themselves. Still, they could
care less if I sat beside them and shoot away.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9429.jpg
Today is all about the small things. Here's something I noticed as we
entered the confines of the Kusuga Daisha.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9437.jpg
巴紋 (Tomoe mon), often seen in shrines, temples, and coat of arms.
There's many variations to the pattern, but this one seems to be the
classical one. This is something manga/anime fans also know a lot about,
as it shows up in just about any title involving ninjas, monsters, and myths.
There is nothing significant to Kasuga Daisha besides being another
historical shrine. However, the path leading up to and out of the site
is very pleasant. Cicadas were very loud on this hot summer day.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9454.jpg
We still had a bit more time before dinner, so we took the long way out.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9448.jpg
This detour turned into zero sightseeing, being a little lost --- at one
point we emerged on the side of a hilltop overlooking Nara city and if
it weren't for a passerby who told me that I could go through a fenced
graveyard area to get down, I would've been hiking much further than I
had planned --- walking a lot, and passing by shops that lured us in
for souvenirs :P
I found a 懐石 (kaiseki) style restaurant that boasts lots of local
fresh vegetables. The place is called Hiyori.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_171111.jpg
We were the first to arrive. The interior is pretty fashionable. Chairs
and tables, no tatami.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_172508.jpg
Our set starts with three cold appetizers: spinach, okra, and tofu salad.
The okra was too soy sauce heavy, but the other two were delicious.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_172710.jpg
Next course is deep fried soft crab. These are tiny crab that you can eat
with the shell. It's a bit like fried chicken, but crunchier and with
a crabby taste.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_173145.jpg
Japanese eggplant is omnipresent here. Here it is lightly roasted with
soy sauce then topped with cold slices of onion and green onions. The
onions here are a lot less sweet and spicy. Rather, they have a mild,
juicy taste.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_173422.jpg
Next is an interesting twist on potatoe crocket. It is soaked in a light
tofu/chicken broth.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_174736.jpg
Now the heavy artillary. Slices in onion, cabbage, zucchini, cherry
tomatoes, eggplant, and potato steamed over a pored porcelain steamer.
For dipping sauce, there is miso paste and sesame. The veggies themselves
have zero seasoning and you can taste their true flavors. Hmmmmm, so good~
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_175254.jpg
For main course, I ordered grilled iwaka fish (岩魚). The owner was
very accomodating when I asked him to take the salt out of everything.
This is one thing I learned in Japan...tell them to use no salt, because
they tend to use a LOT and it's too much for me. They always have a
can of salt by the table anyway if it isn't enough.
I was super full by this time, yet there's one last side dish. Tempura
peppers! Not sure what varieties they are (the owner showed them to me,
but it won't matter whether he said it in English, Japanese, or Chinese,
I still would not have known the difference). Again, taking the salt
out of this made it wonderfully tasty.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_182212.jpg
Then to rinse down all that goodness with some hot oolong tea:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_182634.jpg
And there is always dessert in a Japanese set course. This time it's a
very befitting rice mochi with sprinkled brown sugar and peanut powder.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/20130712_183130.jpg
I was in pure bliss after the meal. The whole day at Nara had been a feast
of the eyes and gut.
No one was at 興福寺 (Kofukiji) by the time we left for the train station.
It's interesting how tourists pour in during the day and completely
disappear by nightfall. Without the distraction (or attraction) of visitors,
a herd of deer quietly rested in front of the temple.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47842021/2013%20Japan/IMG_9478.jpg
With that, we bid farewell to Nara and return to Osaka.
--
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http://blog.pixnet.net/Miska
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