Fotos

青丹よし寧楽の京師は咲く花の薫ふがごとく今盛りなり
　　　　　　（小野老 万葉集 巻3･328)

The capital at Nara,
beautiful in green earth,
flourishes now
like the luster
of the flowers in bloom.
　　 (by Ono no Oyu: translated by Ian Hideo Levy)


This is a TANKA(短歌:short poem) by Ono no Oyu, a Japanese poet of the 8th century. I was reminded of this poem when I saw a cherry tree in full blossom in the forecourt of Todai-ji temple. I guess that the ancient poet was visualizing a scene like this.

The building in this picture is the Dibutsu-den (大仏殿:The Hall of the Great Buddha)that is the main hall of the Todai-ji Temple. It was first built in 751. But it was burned twice by the war fires. The existing building was reconstructed in 1709.