関西方面などに行くと最近、観光客それも多様な地域からの海外のみなさんの群衆ぶりに驚かされる。コロナ禍がようやく一段落、一般的な疾病扱いになって特別扱いしなくなったことで、一気に海外のみなさんが円安という非常に大きな後押しで、殺到しているように思われます。
このブログでも奈良興福寺の阿修羅像への追慕の気持ちを書いたのですが、先般、やはりちょっとはご挨拶に行きたいということで参観してきた。宿泊した大阪市内から、ほぼ１本道みたいな走行でレンタカーでスイスイと移動した。そして興福寺の駐車場（1000円）にもすぐに入れてラッキー、だったのですが、さてそこからがスゴい人並み。
小中学校、高校などの修学旅行とか、多様な地域からの海外観光客のみなさんでごった返し状態。チケット購入もままならない。
なんですが、まぁお目当ての阿修羅像前では、かなり長時間、警備役の僧侶の方にもお話を伺えて、いろいろな情報をお教えいただきました。
で、その後「せっかく来たのだから」と興福寺境内、奈良国立博物館などを散策しようとしたのですが、まぁちょっとすごいオーバーツーリズム。さすがに30分ほどで「ひとに疲れる」状態に。
やっぱり人間、それぞれの心理の平衡を維持するには一定の「ひととの距離感」みたいな要素が大きい。ということでほうほうの体で奈良の観光の渦から「落ち延びて」心理の平衡を得たいと、奈良盆地を南下して、飛鳥寺へと道を向かっておりました。
で、上の写真２点のような久しぶりの「邂逅」。
止利仏師さんの顔の絵はときどきWEBなどで見かけることがあったけれど、それなりの画面に配置された絵像を見て、なんともうれしくなっていた。その下の大仏さんの表情は、わたしの大好きなお顔。
なんとなくエラそうではなく、どこかとぼけたような味のある表情。歴史上なんども火災にあって、カラダのあちこちが喪失されたりしているけれど、この顔部分だけは原形、止利仏師さんの造仏が偲ばれる表情とされている。
で、この飛鳥寺まで来ると、奈良の大喧噪はいったいどこの世界？と思えるほどの静寂が支配してくれている。
すっかり明日香周辺での散策が定番になって来て、京都・奈良の観光爆発みたいな状況には、どうもこころが萎えていく一方であります。京都にはしばらく足は向かないか、相当「裏街道」みたいな行脚に，今後はなって行きそうであります。
English version⬇
Portraits of Buddhist priests and the Great Buddha of Asuka
The sightseeing explosion in Kyoto and Nara is overwhelming. It is far from the situation to let one's mind play with the stage of history. On the other hand, in the Asuka area, silence reigns. A heart-warming trip. Kyoto, Nara
When I visit the Kansai area, I am amazed at the crowds of overseas tourists from various parts of the world. It seems that now that the Corona disaster has finally subsided and the disease is no longer treated as a general illness, people from overseas are rushing to visit Japan, thanks to the extremely large influx of people from overseas, which has been boosted by the weak yen.
I have written in this blog about my feelings of remembrance for the Ashura statue at Kofukuji Temple in Nara, and recently I visited the temple because I still wanted to pay a little visit to it. From Osaka City, where I stayed the night, I drove almost like a single road, and I moved there smoothly in a rented car. I was lucky to get into the parking lot of Kofuku-ji Temple (1,000 yen), but from there, the crowds were huge.
The place was packed with people from elementary, junior high, and high schools, school excursions, and overseas tourists from various regions. We couldn't even buy tickets.
I spent quite a long time in front of the statue of Ashura, which I was looking forward to seeing, and I was able to talk to the priest who was guarding the statue, and he gave me a lot of information.
After that, we decided to take a walk around the Kofukuji Temple grounds and the Nara National Museum, but it was a bit too much of an overtourism. After about 30 minutes, I became “tired of people”.
I guess a certain “distance from people” is important to maintain the psychological equilibrium of each human being. So, I went southward through the Nara Basin to Asukadera Temple, hoping to “escape” from the vortex of sightseeing in Nara and to gain psychological equilibrium.
And I had a “chance encounter” after a long time, as shown in the two photos above.
Although I had occasionally seen pictures of the face of Mr. Toributsushi on the web and other places, I was very happy to see the picture image placed on a screen of its own size. The expression on the face of the Great Buddha below is one of my favorite faces.
It is not a somewhat formal expression, but rather a somewhat bland one. Although the statue has been destroyed by fire many times in its history, this part of the face is the original form and is said to be the expression of the Buddha created by Buddhist priest Toributsuji.
When I arrived at Asukadera Temple, I felt as if I was in a different world from the noisy one in Nara. The quietness of the temple is so great that it makes you wonder where in the world the great bustle of Nara is.
I have become accustomed to strolling in the Asuka area, and the sightseeing explosion in Kyoto and Nara is starting to wear on my mind. I will probably not visit Kyoto for a while, or I will probably take a “backstreet” type of trip in the future.
