Kamakura: The City of Lots of Shrines, Temples and One Big Buddha

Where: Kamakura (about an hour south of Tokyo)
When: October 21 & 22, 2007 (I know, I've been so bad at updating)
Who: Me and Elspeth, of course.
Info: Kamakura is packed full of shrines and temples! We didn't want to get shrine burn-out so we picked a few that looked interesting and just wandered around. The weather was beautiful so it was just nice to be outside in the sunshine.

Temple #1: Engaku-ji

Nothing really special. Dad, I thought you'd like this tree. I'm sure they trained it to grow that way...


This is a famous Zen temple but it seemed a bit weird to us. I mean, one of the gardens was very organized, very Zen-like (above) but we also found a more wild, unkept garden (below).


Below: Both Elspeth and I enjoyed a series of dragon/cloud panels on a gate.

Below: Why little rock, are you admiring the temple too?? Just chillin' in the shade? (actually I think it was supposed to tell people not to park their car too close to the building...) But I thought it was cute.

We climbed the very steep stairs to see some bell, donated in the 14th century. Turns out the bell wasn't that interesting but the view was nice.

On the way down, we followed some little boys who were counting the stairs. Unfortunately, I can't remember how many steep stairs of death there were. Lets just say there were lots...


Temple #2: Tokei-ji

This was a very small temple and we only stayed for about 15 minutes but it's called 'the divorce temple' or 'the running away temple' so we thought we should check it out. Get this - the Kamakura shogunate recognized it as a refuge and women could go to escape an unwanted marriage, by either becoming a nun or waiting for their husbands to agree to a divorce. Why do I have a feeling that most women who came here ended up becoming nuns?

(Check out that amazing 'God-light', as Elspeth calls it)

Temple #3: DAIBUTSU


This big guy is obviously the main attraction in Kamakura. And rightly so. He's 13m tall and weighs over 121 tons! A wooden Buddha was built in 1243 but was destroyed by a storm. This bronze one was built in 1252 to replace it. It used to be covered but in 1498 a tsunami ripped off the wooden covering. Now it sits, relaxing, looking out towards the coast.

Below: Where's Elspeth?


You know what they say about big Buddhas...

They wear BIG sandals...

Around the back of the statue there was a small kiosk selling tickets to go INSIDE the Buddha. For only 20yen we got to squeeze up some stairs and pop out inside the body. You could see how it was constructed. Very cool.


Below: Hey Christopher, as we were leaving the big Buddha area I saw a store that sold swords/weapons...I stopped to consider buying your Christmas present here but I did know which one you'd like or how I'd get it home and through airport security...


ENOSHIMA

About 40 minutes from Kamakura by the really slow electric railway is Enoshima, which is a beachy town with an island. This is where our hotel for the night was...the hotel with the worst directions EVER.

But with some of the freshest fish EVER! Dinner was entirely fresh fish. It was delicious!


Tempura but the eggplant was covered in teeny-tiny fish and then fried. Tasty.

Below: This dish was my favourite. I know it doesn't look that appetizing but the fish melted in your mouth and was so flavourful. I wish I could cook it at home...

That night we took a walk around the small town. We grabbed some mint ice cream (gotta eat mint ice cream when you see it in Japan) and walked along the beach. Back at the hotel Elspeth taught me how to crochet (how cool is that?!) and then I watched the Sunday night English movie, Collateral (Elspeth fell asleep)...gad, I hate Tom Cruise...

Breakfast was amazing. Well, except for the dreaded natto. I have never had it with green onions so I thought maybe it would help it... Nope. It was still gross and still 'neba-neba' (or as my dad says 'never-never'). Yuck.







Shrine/Temple #4,5,6: Who cares...

The island has three major shrines but we kind of didn't care...so we just walked around. One of the major attractions for us were the series of escalators that would whisk you up the hills. Unfortunately we missed the rather large entrance and ended up walking...oh well.. we don't need escalators!

There was a stream/pond where if you washed your money, it would increase in the future. Yes, please.



Above: The view was really nice.
Below: Unfortunately, I had to stick my camera through the Jurassic Park fence to get a good picture. I have no idea why there was such a large fence in this area...maybe a lot of people were falling/jumping?


This was the island of creepy animals. There were hawks circling overhead, HUGE spiders hanging in the trees above our heads and dead mukade lying on the road. We walked close together and tried to avoid getting attacked.


After walking around the island, we returned to the omiyage store section and decided that we needed ice cream. Elspeth got a flavour called Mont Blanc, if I remember correctly and I got purple sweet potato.

After a leisurely beachside lunch, we hopped back on the very slow train and headed back to Kamakura. There, we stopped in at our last shrine of the weekend.

Shrine/Temple #7: Hachiman-gu Shrine

We stumbled upon a performance in the shrine (I love how Elspeth and I always find cool things just by chance). We walked by and saw these ladies wearing what looked like teapots on their heads and of course we had to watch.


Below: Elspeth's dream job (well, for one month) - to work in a shrine, wear these guy's pants and sweep using an old-fashioned bamboo broom.


It was SO sunny. My camera just couldn't deal with the blinding light so my pictures are a bit wonky. Check out her kimono (above) and make-up/hair...
And then this guy (below) whipped out the sword and did a performance. Hurrah for shrine sword performances!


Bonsai exhibit for my dad.


When the performance was over, we headed down the main street in Kamakura. Elspeth bought some omiyage for her staff and we peeked in a tenugui shop. These long pieces of material are printed with patterns and have a variety of uses. Unfortunately they are very expensive. But pretty.



It was a relaxing weekend of perfect weather, fresh seafood, lots of walking, shrines, temples and ice cream!