Nara Old Temple (3) 故都奈良的寺院

Although this is a replica of the Kitora tumulus's burial chamber constructed in 8th c., we can see the wall and ceiling stones were finished finely, connected tightly each other. Just after another tumulus decorated with paintings had been investigated, residents near here informed the village office that there were a similar one. This was the clue of the amazing discovery. 

Kitora 古坟的旁边有一个保存设施。

The ceiling of the preservation centre shows a celestial map drawn on the tumulus's  ceiling. Each star was originally shown with a circle-cut gold leaf. Constellations are in the Chinese style, the centre is the polestar.

在石室天花板上画着一个中国式星象图。设施为参观人用电灯复原。

闲云潭影日悠悠 物换星移几度秋

This is Ishibutai, the stone chamber of a tumulus, too. Some people say that in old days all the surface soil was  removed gradually by farmers to make their fields.

"I pace upon the battlements and stare

On the foundations of a house, or where

Tree, like a sooty finger, starts from the earth;

And send imagination forth

Under the day's declining beam, and call

Images and memories

From ruin or from ancient trees,

For I would ask a question of them all."

W. B. Yeats

这个古迹叫石舞台。原来是坟墓的石室。石头这么巨大。

The inside is very wide. I cannot imagine what instruments engineers used to complete this large-scale project.

"All was lost save memory..."

"Mixing memory and desire..."

Memory cannot keep its shape eternally after having lost connection with reverence or utility.

This stone Sakafune-ishi is put on a small hill. It has been said that this was used to make liquor, medicine or to flow water into a garden. No one knows what it is for. If you had a similar stone near your house, I wish you would inform the village office here so as to make their further investigation easier. lol ：-）

酒船石用处到今天还不明白。

Asuka-dera temple has restored and preserved the oldest Buddha statue in Japan casted in 609, damaged in fires afterwards. 
飞鸟寺有日本最古的佛像。

A myth says Mt. Kaguyama came down from the sky. She has been watching changes and non-changes by human deeds. I feel as if she was asking us a question: "What's in Nara?"
有一个传说香具山是从天空下降来。