Nara

He collected antiques, studied calligraphy, and deeply involved himself in the world of Kabuki theater.

He learned to see the hidden beauties of Japan, the quiet temples around Nara, the specific atmosphere of old wooden theaters.

He really lived it.

But from that vantage point, he became a frontline witness to the rapid erosion of those very things.

Please verify facts.

The Shosoin in Nara has a wooden floor raised two point seven meters off the ground, and that gap of air is the only reason ten thousand documents from the eighth century still exist.

And it's never burned, not once in twelve hundred years.

Daniel's asking about the difference between a record we dug up and a record somebody never stopped keeping.

Those three things in that order.

What's actually in there?

Over ten thousand handwritten documents, all from the Nara period, seven hundred ten to seven hundred eighty-four, plus around nine thousand objects.

It started as a dedication.

Then something would have to be said about those classifications of incense which were made during the 10th century in the periods of Engi and of Tenryaku, and about the report of the ancient state counselor Kimitaka Sangi, who visited China in the latter part of the 13th century and transmitted to the Emperor Yomei the wisdom of the Chinese concerning incense.

Then mention should be made of the ancient incenses still preserved in various Japanese temples, and of the famous fragments of Ranjatai publicly exhibited at Nara in the 10th year of Meiji, which furnished supplies to the three great captains Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu.

After this should follow an outline of the history of mixed incenses made in Japan, with notes on the classifications devised by the luxurious Takauji, and on the nomenclature established later by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who collected 130 varieties of incense, and invented for the more precious of them names recognized even to this day, such as Blossom Showering, Smoke of Fuji, and Flower of the Pure Law.

Examples ought to be given, likewise, of traditions attaching to historical incenses preserved in several princely families, together with specimens of those hereditary recipes for incense-making which have been transmitted from generation to generation through hundreds of years, and are still called after their august inventors as the Method of Hinadinagon, the Method of Sentoin, etc.

That of Zojoji, with figures of divinities cut in low relief on its sides, is the most ornate and costly of the four.

The specimen at Eku-in is very poor and plain.

The first butsu soku seki made in Japan was that erected at Todaiji in Nara.

It was designed after a similar monument in China said to be the faithful copy of an Indian original.

But now her government must confront a familiar challenge, how to respond to Okinawa's concerns about crimes involving US personnel while maintaining a military presence it views as central to regional security.

First wooden tablet listing details of a slave sale found in Nara.

Nara, a wooden tablet describing the sale of a slave in the Nara period, 710 to 784, that includes the price has been unearthed in the ancient capital of Heijokyo here, the first discovery of such a detailed item.

The Center for Archaeological Operations at Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties announced the find on October 7th.

The center said the wooden tablet, mokkan, is a precious historical source that vividly conveys the reality of human trafficking and records details such as the price of a slave, nui, and the method of payment.

Although the buying and selling of slaves had previously been known from the Shosoin documents, this marks the first transaction with such specifics coming to light.

According to the center, the tablet was discovered in May in the remnants of an ancient well during excavations at the southeastern section of Heijokyo in present-day Kuramamacho in Nara City.

Based on pottery and other artifacts found with it, the tablet is believed to date from the latter half of the Nara period in the late 8th century.

We're doing Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, um, and then we're going down south.

Near Jama.

Yes, yes.

Are you doing Tokyo?

I don't know.

It's near Nara.

It's-

It's by Nara

... yeah.

And by the ninja, like close to the waterfalls that the ninjas like-

Oh, okay.

[laughs] Well, anyway-

That's pretty crazy.

And, and there are records that say like it was the tallest, uh, structure in Japan, the tallest building in Japan, taller than, uh, the Todaiji temple in Nara.

That's famous for the giant Buddha.

That one I think was 47 meters.

That's why it's so magnificent.

And that's why Okuninushi is, you know, housed there.

That's the story, right? But Okay, where does this come from, right? Like, is there some historical basis to this? Well, the speculation is that, well, first of all, history is written by the victors, right? The people that win the battles and all, they write the history, right? The people that lose, they get forgotten, right? So the speculation is that the Yamato Ooke, the Yamato court, okay, that was based in the Nara area, Basically, the story isn't about Amaterasu and Okunushi.

The story is about the Izumo country and the Yamato country.

Then something would have to be said about those classifications of incense which were made during the 10th century in the periods of Engi and of Tenryaku, and about the report of the ancient state counselor Kimitaka Sangi, who visited China in the latter part of the 13th century and transmitted to the Emperor Yomei the wisdom of the Chinese concerning incense.

Then mention should be made of the ancient incenses still preserved in various Japanese temples, and of the famous fragments of Ranjatai publicly exhibited at Nara in the 10th year of Meiji.

which furnished supplies to the three great captains Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu.

After this should follow an outline of the history of mixed incenses made in Japan, with notes on the classifications devised by the luxurious Takauji, and on the nomenclature established later by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who collected one hundred and thirty varieties of incense, and invented for the more precious of them names recognized even to this day, such as Blossom Showering, Smoke of Fuji, and Flower of the Pure Law.

That of Zojoji, with figures of divinities cut in low relief on its sides, is the most ornate and costly of the four.

The specimen at Eku-in is very poor and plain.

The first Butsusoku Seki made in Japan was that erected at Todaiji in Nara.

It was designed after a similar monument in China said to be the faithful copy of an Indian original.