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NARA , a See also:town of See also:Japan, in the See also:province of Yamato, 254 M. from See also:Osaka by See also:rail. Pop. 32,000. It lies on the slope of a range of picturesque hills, beautifully wooded with cryptomerias, See also:evergreen oaks, &c. This was the first permanent See also:capital of Japan. Up to the beginning of the 8th See also:century the imperial See also:court changed its location at the See also:accession of each See also:sovereign, and the court's See also:place of See also:residence naturally became the See also:official See also:metropolis. But Nara remained the metropolis during seven consecutive reigns (709 to 784), and its seventy-five years of favoured existence sufficed for the See also:building and furnishing of several imposing shrines and temples, for the laying out of a See also:noble See also:park, for the casting of a See also:colossal See also:image of See also:Buddha, and for the See also:execution of many other beautiful specimens of applied See also:art. Not much is known of the Nara See also:palace in its See also:original See also:form, but many of the articles and ornaments used by its inmates survive in a celebrated collection which, during nearly twelve See also:hundred years, had been preserved in a See also:store-See also:house (Shoso-in) near the See also:temple of Todai-ji. This collection cannot be visited by strangers more than once a See also:year, and even then only by See also:special permission. The vigorous growth of the Buddhist creed through-out the Nara See also:epoch was remarkable, and found outward expression in many striking architectural and See also:artistic See also:works. The best of these, namely, those dating from the first See also:half of the 8th century, show Indo-Grecian See also:affinities, which gradually grow fainter as the end of the epoch approaches. The temple called Todai-ji was completed about 750. At See also:present the buildings enclose a quadrangle 520 ft. by 620, the See also:south See also:side being mainly occupied by the huge, ungainly and no longer perpendicular See also:- HALL
- HALL (generally known as SCHWABISCH-HALL, tc distinguish it from the small town of Hall in Tirol and Bad-Hall, a health resort in Upper Austria)
- HALL (O.E. heall, a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Halle)
- HALL, BASIL (1788-1844)
- HALL, CARL CHRISTIAN (1812–1888)
- HALL, CHARLES FRANCIS (1821-1871)
- HALL, CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN (1816—19oz)
- HALL, EDWARD (c. 1498-1547)
- HALL, FITZEDWARD (1825-1901)
- HALL, ISAAC HOLLISTER (1837-1896)
- HALL, JAMES (1793–1868)
- HALL, JAMES (1811–1898)
- HALL, JOSEPH (1574-1656)
- HALL, MARSHALL (1790-1857)
- HALL, ROBERT (1764-1831)
- HALL, SAMUEL CARTER (5800-5889)
- HALL, SIR JAMES (1761-1832)
- HALL, WILLIAM EDWARD (1835-1894)
hall containing the Dai Butsu, or colossal statue of Buddha. The casting of this wonderful piece of See also:work was accomplished after eight failures in 749 by Takusho, an artist from See also:Korea. On two occasions the See also:head was melted during the burning of the temple (1180 and 1567) and from 1567 to 1697 the statue stood exposed to the See also:weather. The height of the figure is 53 ft. On a See also:- HILL
- HILL (0. Eng. hyll; cf. Low Ger. hull, Mid. Dutch hul, allied to Lat. celsus, high, collis, hill, &c.)
- HILL, A
- HILL, AARON (1685-175o)
- HILL, AMBROSE POWELL
- HILL, DANIEL HARVEY (1821-1889)
- HILL, DAVID BENNETT (1843–1910)
- HILL, GEORGE BIRKBECK NORMAN (1835-1903)
- HILL, JAMES J
- HILL, JOHN (c. 1716-1775)
- HILL, MATTHEW DAVENPORT (1792-1872)
- HILL, OCTAVIA (1838– )
- HILL, ROWLAND (1744–1833)
- HILL, SIR ROWLAND (1795-1879)
hill to the See also:east of the temple stands a See also:- BELL
- BELL, ALEXANDER MELVILLE (1819—1905)
- BELL, ANDREW (1753—1832)
- BELL, GEORGE JOSEPH (1770-1843)
- BELL, HENRY (1767-1830)
- BELL, HENRY GLASSFORD (1803-1874)
- BELL, JACOB (1810-1859)
- BELL, JOHN (1691-178o)
- BELL, JOHN (1763-1820)
- BELL, JOHN (1797-1869)
- BELL, ROBERT (1800-1867)
- BELL, SIR CHARLES (1774—1842)
bell-house with a huge bell, See also:cast in 732, 134 ft. high, 9 ft. across the mouth and weighing 37 tons. The See also:great Buddha is often spoken of as the most remarkable of the Nara See also:relics; but restorations have so marred it that it can no longer be compared with many smaller examples of contemporaneous and subsequent See also:sculpture. More worthy of See also:close See also:attention are two See also:effigies of Brahma and See also:Indra preserved among the relics of Kobuku-ji, which, with Kasuga-no-Miya, Ni-gwatsudo and Todai-ji, constitute the See also:chief religious edifices. These figures, sculptured in See also:wood, have suffered much from the ravages of See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time, but nothing could destroy the grandeur of their proportions or the See also:majesty and dignity of their pose. Several other
works of scarcely inferior excellence may be seen among the relics, and at the See also:shrine of Kasuga is performed a religious See also:dance called Kagura, in which the costumes and gestures of the dancers are doubtless the same as those of twelve centuries back. Kasugano-Miya was founded in 767, and its chapels with their rough red-painted See also:log-work afford See also:fine examples of See also:primitive See also:Japanese See also:architecture. In the temple-park are herds of tame See also:deer; and little images of deer and trinkets from deer's See also:horn are the favourite charms See also:purchased by the pilgrims. Within the enclosure stands a curious old See also:trunk of seven See also:plants entwined, including a See also:camellia, See also:cherry and wistaria. Of the great Buddhist temple Kobuku-ji, founded in 710, and burnt for the third time in 1717, there remains little See also:save two lofty pagodas. A railway now gives See also:access to the town, but every effort is made to preserve all the See also:ancient features of Nara. A museum has been formed, where many See also:antique See also:objects of great See also:interest are displayed, as well as works from the hands of comparatively See also:modern artists. Nara in the days of its prosperity is said to have had a See also:population of a See also:quarter of a million.
End of Article: NARA
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