{"id":5242,"date":"2016-12-30T11:51:14","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T11:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=5242"},"modified":"2018-07-23T13:37:04","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T13:37:04","slug":"new-year-celebration-at-todaiji-in-nara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/new-year-celebration-at-todaiji-in-nara\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year Celebration at T\u014ddaiji in Nara"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Year (\u65b0\u5e74 Shinnen) is just around the corner and we are all looking forward to celebrate it in our own way. Last year, I spent the New Year’s Eve (\u5927\u6666\u65e5 <\/span>\u014cmisoka<\/span>) at T<\/span>\u014d<\/span>daiji (\u6771\u5927\u5bfa) temple in Nara (\u5948\u826f). In this post I am going to share my experience of New Year (\u65b0\u5e74 Shinnen) in Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Visiting a shrine or a temple on or within a few days after the New Year’s day \u5143\u65e6 (Gantan) is called \u2018hatsum<\/span>\u014d<\/span>de\u2019 (\u521d\u8a63). It is a Japanese age-old tradition to start the New Year (\u65b0\u5e74 Shinnen) with blessings and prayers. Some popular shrines and temples receive millions of visitors during the first week of January \u6b63\u6708 (<\/span>Sh\u014dgatsu<\/span>).<\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>\u014d<\/span>daiji (\u6771\u5927\u5bfa) in Nara (\u5948\u826f) houses the largest bronze Buddha statue in Japan.This temple was built during the Nara period \u5948\u826f\u6642\u4ee3 (Nara jidai) and was one of the most important and influential temples of that time. Today, T<\/span>\u014d<\/span>daiji (\u6771\u5927\u5bfa) is one of the most visited UNESCO sites in Nara (\u5948\u826f).<\/span><\/p>\n

Before midnight I walked up to the temple grounds where a long queue was already waiting for the gates to open. I took my position and waited patiently till the clock struck midnight and the main temple gates were opened. These gates usually remain closed on regular days. They are only opened on special occasions like this. Not only that, a small window on the main temple building is also opened on special occasions. One can see the Great Buddha’s (\u5927\u4ecf Daibutsu) face through this window from outside the temple.<\/span><\/p>\n

New Year’s eve (\u5927\u6666\u65e5 <\/span>\u014cmisoka<\/span>) at T<\/span>\u014d<\/span>daiji (\u6771\u5927\u5bfa) also means getting to experience Joyanokane (<\/span>\u9664\u591c\u306e\u9418)<\/span> or the New Year Eve’s bell. The big bronze bell is struck 108 times. It is said that ringing the bell for 108 times will ward off the 108 sufferings.<\/span><\/p>\n

The temple grounds were brightly lit up. Bonfires were placed on the two sides of the path leading to the Great Buddha Hall \u5927\u4ecf\u6bbf (Daibutsuden). Although I have been to T<\/span>\u014d<\/span>daiji (\u6771\u5927\u5bfa) many times during the day, at night it appeared quite different. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was an unforgettable grand experience that I had on my visit to T<\/span>\u014d<\/span>daiji (\u6771\u5927\u5bfa) on the New Year (\u65b0\u5e74 Shinnen). I couldn’t have had a better experience of \u2018Hatsum<\/span>\u014d<\/span>de\u2019 (\u521d\u8a63) in Nara (\u5948\u826f). <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Year (\u65b0\u5e74 Shinnen) is just around the corner and we are all looking forward to celebrate it in our own way. Last year, I spent the New Year’s Eve (\u5927\u6666\u65e5 \u014cmisoka) at T\u014ddaiji (\u6771\u5927\u5bfa) temple in Nara (\u5948\u826f). In this post I am going to share my experience of New Year (\u65b0\u5e74 Shinnen) in…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5242","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5242"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5883,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5242\/revisions\/5883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}