Hello 日本

Due to the fact that I actually have schoolwork to do (This is most unusual), I shall give a little more information on what I saw in Asuka!
I have to do a little write-up on what I did, so I was forced to research the things I saw, since I actually had no idea what I did there at the time.

I went to two museums, Takamatsuzuka Fresco Museum and National Asuka Historical Park Museum. At the fresco museum there were reconstructed models of stone chambers with copies of the frescoes on display. At the park museum, we learned about the geography of Asuka from relief models and animated images.

Asuka has over 20 different stone statues, which are very famous. We only saw three. The tortoise stone is shaped like a turtle that is smiling. The legend says that before the tortoise stone faced north, now it faces southwest, and if the tortoise should face west, Yamato (Nara as the capital), will sink in the muddy ocean. The devil’s toilet and cutting board were once part of a tomb, but it was destroyed. The cutting board is 1 meter thick and possibly the floor of the tomb.

Lastly, we went to Tachibanadera temple. This is supposedly the place where Prince Shotoku (regent & politican; major proponent of Buddhism and inspired by China) was born.

So there you have it! I thought some history on places I’m seeing might be interesting for a change. I’ll, try and write more about these things if you like. I know a name doesn’t really mean much to anyone who hasn’t actually been there.