This is Saidaiji temple and lotus flowers there. The lotus season was almost over, but the temple still had beautiful white and pink flowers despite its sad history.
Saidaiji temple was founded in the eighth century by Empress Shotoku, a daughter of Emperor Shotoku, who founded Todaiji temple. Saidaiji temple, which means a great temple in the west in Japanese, and Todaiji, which means a great temple in the east, were once considered kind of twins and between the two temples stood the Imperial Palace of Heijo (i.e., the then capital) from 710 to 784. But after that, Saidaiji temple started to decline, underwent a series of natural disasters, and ultimately lost its power and influence. Actually, most Japanese must have heard of or been to Todaiji but not Saidaiji.
As this history suggests, its premises are far smaller than Todaiji's and there were almost none in the temple when I was there. The twin temples made me think about people and their lives 1,300 years ago.
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| Saidaiji temple 西大寺 |
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西大寺です。東大寺は有名ですが西大寺が東大寺と並ぶ権勢を誇る寺だったことを知る人は日本人でもそれほど多くないのではないでしょうか。
西大寺は、聖武天皇の娘の称徳天皇が建立したのですが、平安時代に衰退し、火災や台風で多くの堂塔を失くしてしまいました。
蓮の花を見ながら1,300年前の奈良について思いを馳せました。
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