Houryuu-ji, Nara-ken
An Autumn trip to the ancient city of Nara…
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Our school organized a trip last week for the 1st-year high school students to Nara and Kyoto. Actually, the students had to organize themselves - deciding their schedule and transport arrangements - and the school just arranged a youth hostel for everyone to stay at. This meant that we teachers had free time during the day to do some sightseeing for ourselves. We had planned to take in a few temples in Nara, but as things turned out we only had time for one - Houryuu-ji. I suspect most Japanese people visited this temple while they were school students, but I would really recommend going again if you haven’t been back since then. |
organized - 打ち合わせた・開いた // transport arrangements - 交通に関する予定
This meant that - これは、・・・という事だった // suspect - 疑う・思う・察知する
| The construction of the temple was started by Shotoku-Taishi in 607 AD - the idea had originally been proposed by Emperor Youmei but after he died suddenly, it fell to Empress Suiko and Prince Shotoku to put it into action. Shotoku Taishi’s contribution to the shape of Japanese culture is significant - the part I admire most is the way he promoted the spread of Buddhism in Japan as an alternative option to the native religion. While there may have been some political motivation for this, it represented the beginnings of Japanese open-mindedness with regard to religious belief and the idea of ‘taking the best‘ from other cultures and integrating them into the Japanese way. Not, perhaps, unsurprising then that an almost cultish veneration of the Prince continued for many years after his death, and that he is still showered with praise in Japanese historical accounts. |  |
construction - 構築 // temple - お寺・寺院 // originally - もともと
been proposed - 持ち掛けられた // fell to - ～の仕事となった・～の責任となった
put it into action - 実践する・実現させる // contribution - 貢献
admire - 鑑賞する・褒め称える // promoted - 促した・促進させた
spread of Buddhism - 仏教の普及・拡散 // alternative - 択一的な
political motivation - 政治的な動機・理由・刺激 // open-mindedness - 開豁な・頭の柔らかさ
taking the best - ええとこ取り // integrating - 統合
veneration - 恭敬・尊崇する // showered with praise - 称賛に浴びせられている
Houryuu-ji is reputed to contain some of the oldest wooden structures in the world, and the whole site is a UN World Heritage site. You need at least half a day to look around it properly. It’s been a while since I had the chance to enjoy this historical side of Japan and I found myself remembering how beautiful the country can be.
is reputed to - ～という評判がある // World Heritage - 世界遺産
at least - 少なくとも // properly - ちゃんと・丁寧に
It’s been a while since - ～するのは久しぶりです
found myself remembering - ～が改めて思い浮かんだ
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