Byakugoji and Sin Yakushiji

My plan had been to follow the sites listed as World Heritage sites in the map that we had been given at Nara station. Somehow in my calculations I had picked the wrong place, and we ended up making a trek to byakugoji.

By this time our feet were already starting to ache so we took the bus a ways and were then tasked with climbing a long stairway to the temple. These stairs though, did help us to
realize one of the charming points of this quaint little temple, the view of Nara city. The temple also holds an image of King Emma- a particularly fierce looking god (who unfortunately I was not permitted to photograph- but another gaijin didn't pay attention to the signs, so I stole it from his blog)
The way down is always much easier, and the view is whited out a bit in this picture.
As if our feet hadn't been punished enough, we had to make our way back either to the bus or walk back to the hotel from there. As either one involved a bit of a walk, we (sorry mom and aunt Liz!) decided to walk. We used signs pointing towards Shinyakushiji for our bearing and ended up going into the temple.
Shinyakushiji was founded in the Tempyo period (747 ad) and is said to be the only remaining build from that era in it's original condition (source- pamphlet given at site). The main Buddha shown inside the main building (Yakushi- the patron of medicine) is a national treasure.
Also housed inside the main building shown above were 12 divine generals, beautiful wood carved statues, each one representing one of the 12 chinese zodiac years. I quickly found Mouse and said thanks to him (because he represents the year I was born...)
It was a beautiful and serene setting and I thought a fitting end to a busy day of checking out Nara's beauty. We rested/soaked our feet and had a nice Italian dinner in town (took the bus both ways) and fell asleep quite easily to get ready for our last temples to view and our trip home.