The deer of Nara have learned that humans with crackers will hand them over faster if bowed to. So they bow. It's a small dip of the head, quite polite, and it works on everyone, including a Portuguese man who has just spent 200 yen on shika senbei and believes he is in control.
He was not in control. Four deer, one bow each, then a fifth that skipped the bow entirely and ate the map. Not the crackers. The map. The paper one from the station that he'd been carrying like a passport.
We walked to Tōdai-ji without it, which is easy, because the temple is the size of a hill and the Buddha inside it is the size of a house. He stood in front of it for a long time and said, 'I understand the deer now.' I don't know what he meant. I don't think he did.
Six persimmons, one map, and a bow I've caught myself doing to the cat.
