Kamakura Temples and Great Buddha, near Tokyo, Japan
Kamakura is situated just south-west of Tokyo on the coast, and combines the popularity of a seaside resort with a wonderful array of historic monuments, set in attractive countryside. It has an excellent train service from the city, and is busy at weekends during the summer. However, although we went on a sunny Saturday it wasn't overcrowded.
We caught the train from Hamamatsu cho station, near our hotel, and it was busy with people going for the day out. There was quite a contrast from previous days - no men in suits! More people piled on when we stopped at Yokohama, the big city that merges into Tokyo from the west. The journey to Kamakura took just 50 minutes. The previous stop is Kita-kamakura, and would provide an alternative point to catch the train back to Tokyo after visiting the temples for those who didn't want the extra walk over the hill to see the Great Buddha. In fact, there are various ways of combining the different attractions - we just worked out a route using the map in the tourist guidebook. There's a good website worth visiting for information on Kamakura and the hiking trails in the local area. One page is headed: "A tour of old temples to seek inner peace". Must be worth a try! In fact, this walk was a bit like that.
A tourist information centre stands close to the station in the square, providing a range of information material including maps for exploring the temples and countryside. From there, a pedestrian street heads straight north-east towards the main concentration of temples and museums. It was gaily decorated with banners, and we saw women in kimonos and men with their rickshaws looking for passengers. We stopped to look in some of the attractive shops, and at the end of the day returned here to buy some stylish Japanese cups and plates.
It was only around 15 minutes' gentle walk along to the unmistakable entrance to the area of museums at the end of the street. A red torii (gateway) spans the route through to a modern wooden bridge standing next to an older stone one.
We walked ahead to the open forecourt of the Tsurgaoka Hachiman-gu shrine, where the vertical stores of rice bales and other commodities contrasted with the impressive shrine buildings.
The Treasure Museum was through to the right as we walked up to the shrine, and we turned back to visit it. Inside was an array of fearsome statues and other ancient works of art. I found out I wasn't supposed to use a camera inside, after taking a couple of digital photos.
When we emerged back into the sunlight, Catriona was cornered by a group of school students, who were conducting a survey in English asking tourists about their visit to Japan. She was happy to oblige.
From there we retraced our steps through the grounds of the shrine to the main road which runs north towards Kita-kamakura. This was the least pleasant part of the walk, with a narrow pavement for the number of tourists a lot of traffic passing by. We escaped from it to visit the temple of Kenchoji up on the right. This is apparently the leading Zen temple in Kamakura, and some renovations were being carried out. Paving stones were being relaid beyond the enormous wooden gateway, and the shining timber of a small new building contrasted with the aged dark wood of the large hall behind it.
A line of tall junipers stood alongside the roadway, which we followed around behind a garden and pond, past bamboo woods, and eventually up a long series of steps to reach the Hansobo protecting shrine overlooking the temple complex. We spotted a couple of enormous deep blue butterflies flitting around. The approach to the shrine itself was festooned with banners and guarded by a platoon of impish figures looking menacingly out of the shrubs with a variety of weaponry to hand. Any visitors with ill-intent would probably like us be exhausted by the climb, and easy to overcome.
By the time we got back down to the road, we were getting hungry. There were various restaurants along the roadside, and we eventually selected one on the left, close to where the railway line crossed the road. It was a good choice, with an attractive interior, plenty of customers and a good choice of Japanese food - we selected noodles with accompaniments.
Emerging at about 2.30, we went on to visit two more of the main temples. The first of these, Meigetsuin, was reached up a side-road almost opposite the restaurant. It is famous for its displays of blue hydrangeas which I was keen to see, but my heart sank as we approached the entrance and saw workmen clipping the flower heads from hydrangea bushes along the way. Nevertheless it was worth the visit for the attractively laid out gardens and various unusual little temple buildings set amongst the trees. June is apparently the best month for the hydrangeas, so we had just missed them. On the way round, Catriona had another unusual encounter, this time with a little statue of a bald-headed man holding a bowl containing a collection of raw sausages! We still haven't quite worked that one out.
Heading back the way we had come, we turned right on a minor road parallel to the main route on the far side of the railway line. This led us to Engakuji, another of the five main Zen temples of Kamakura. This also had extensive buildings, one of which was busy with a large group of Zen students, and another looked recently built. The picturesque gardens included a couple of bushes with a few remaining hydrangea flowers in bloom. We climbed up another steep flight of steps to see the giant temple bell dating from 1301, in a shelter on a little hillock. It would be rung by striking it with a pole hanging horizontally close by.
From there we crossed the railway line at Kita-kamakura station, turned left along the road then shortly turned right up towards Tokeiji temple. This too had attractive gardens, but we didn't stay there very long. Instead we followed the hiking trail that led onwards up the hill, signposted for the Daibutsu or Giant Buddha.
The track skirted temple buildings and led eventually onto an ancient wooded ridge, where we clambered over tree roots. It was a magical timeless section of the walk. Fields ran away to the right, and the hill sloped down to the left towards Kamakura. Further away to the right was a lot of urban development, but the path was well screened from it. Quite a few runners were out on the trail. After about 20 minutes the path emerged from the woods onto a road and we were a bit confused which route to take at a junction, but worked it out and found another sign for the Daibutsu. This was a minor road, with some views down towards the coast. We continued eventually down to a main road, about 3 km from the temple where we had started.
We turned left and walked beside the road for another couple of hundred metres until we reached a turning on the left, signed for the Daibutsu. There was a series of stalls selling various replica items, which all seemed a bit ridiculous when we saw the impressive original ahead of us, looking down on the crowds of people milling around below. It was an impressive site. We were just in time (4.35 pm) to go inside the vast 13th century copper statue.
We gazed at it for a while then browsed through some books on Buddhism before returning to the main road. It was a short walk down past shops where we stopped for some ice cream made of green tea and sweet potato. Delicious. A little further on was the station at Hase, and we caught a local train along a very narrow line running tightly between houses back to Kamakura station. We had time to go back to the shopping street before our 6 pm train back to Tokyo. It had been another day full of contrasting impressions.
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