Japanese Castles/Buddhas in Nara

I went to Japan this summer and went to Osaka to see this castle. It is one of the most famous Japanese castles and is both beautiful and functions as a museum. It was an important castle in the unification of Japan in the 16th century. Beautiful, it is white with a stacked stone foundation wall, blue/green tiles, and gold decorations like fish and flowers. It is 5 stories high and surrounded by a large moat/lake. I also went to Nara, which is famous for the friendly wild deer (that you can feed), and for Todai-ji. This is the temple that houses one of the largest Buddha statues in Japan, the Daibutsuden. It was larger than life, immensely detailed, and very cool to see.

 This is a tori gate leading to a smaller shrine in Nara, Japan. These are common place and Japan and found in every city and in a variety of nooks and crannies in all the cities and mountains.

 The main gate for the Daibutsuden Buddha. It is large and imposing to show the significance and importance of this specific Buddha.

 The Temple that houses the Buddha. The Temple and compounds are extremely large because of the Buddha's incredible size

The Daibutsuden. Notice the adult man standing directly next to it. This Buddha was large and bigger then life. Imposing and very regal it was hard to look away.

 

A smaller Buddha statue situated to the left of the main Buddha. Significantly smaller, but still quite large.

  

On either side near the doors of the temple that houses the Buddha were these statues of Ferocious warriors, meant to protect the Buddha from harm and ward of evil spirits.

 The second warrior statue

 

 The Original Temple building that housed the Buddha, which burned down a few centuries ago.

The current model for the building that houses the Buddha, built after the original was destroyed by a fire.

 

 A model of the gate that leads to the temple compound

 

 A Model of the original temple grounds. The 2 tower structures sadly no longer exist.

 

Another angle for the original temple compound model.

The gate leading to the Osaka castle, one of Japan's most famous castles. This castle housed the man who created an effective tax collection system and helped unite Japan during the era of civil war.

The Osaka castle. Notice the white coloring and the blue-green tile roof, which is very common of castles built in Japan. Another common feature was to be built on a large raised stone foundation and to be surrounded by water, to protect from invaders.

View of the castle from a bit farther away. The roof is adorned with gold ornamental items, such as a tiger, cranes, and fish.