Kamakura Temple Walk – Morning

50km southwest of Tokyo lies the small city of Kamakura (鎌倉市). Once the political capital of Japan during the Kamakura shogunate (a feudal military government), today it’s a great place for a day trip to explore its many small temples and shrines.

Enoden Train

To get there I took the Odakyu line (小田急江ノ島線) from Shinjuku to Fujisawa, then changed to the old Enoden line (江ノ電) that goes all the way to Kamakura. There is a faster route but this way provides views of Enoshima island and the Shonan coast. Since it was early in the morning most passengers were half-asleep!

Kamakura Bike

I got off at Hase Station (長谷駅) and weirdly stumbled across a troop of Japanese bikers and US marines on a sightseeing trip!

Great Buddha

My first stop was Kōtoku-in Temple (高徳院), home to the bronze “Great Buddha” (大仏) statue which is one of the most famous icons of Japan.

Kōtoku-in Temple

Given the crowds of tourists, I wasn’t all that inclined to stick around – I’d already seen more than my fair share of Buddha statues over the past 5 years.

Enchanted Woods

To escape the crowds I took to a quiet trail in the woods but even here I got ambushed by a group of school children who wanted to practice their English with me for a school assignment. They asked me a bunch of simple questions which they dutifully wrote down my answers to in their notebooks (“Where are you from? What is your favourite place in Japan?” and so on).

Autumn in Kamakura

After posing for a photo to provide their teacher evidence (peace symbols all around) I came across a small park where the trees were wearing their full autumn coats.

Zeniarai Benzaiten Shrine

My short hike through the woods was rewarded by my arrival at Zeniarai-benten Shrine (銭洗弁財天宇賀福神社) which is completely surrounded by high rock walls and can only be accessed through a narrow tunnel in the rock.

Torii Pathway

The shrine has dozens of unpainted torii (Shinto gates), a little different from the usual bright vermilion colour.

Lucky Sticks

Unusually for a Shinto shrine people were also burning incense.

Zeniarai Benzaiten Cave

The most popular area of the shrine is the Okugū (奥宮) cave.

Money Washing

In here people wash their money (both coins and paper) in a natural spring which is said to be able to multiply it.

Small Shrine

How effective it is I don’t know!

Kaizo-ji Temple

My walk next took me to Kaizo-ji Temple (海蔵寺) which legend has it contains a well that is unable to reflect the light of the moon. All very Indiana Jones at this point.

Prayer

A man prays outside the entrance.

Kaizo-ji Temple

Inside were some traditional wooden buildings with thatched roofs – something I hadn’t seen outside the UK before.

Kaizo-ji Window

Each window of the building had a perfectly framed view of the garden outside.

Kaizo-ji Bell

A huge bell hangs in silence, begging to disturb the calm.

Rock Cutting

On a path around the back of Kaizo-ji I noticed some curious caves carved out of the solid rock face. These turned out to be what are known as yagura (やぐら) – caves dug on the side of hills during the Middle Ages to serve as tombs for high-ranking persons.

Dark Grotto

Things like this have a strange way of making me feel very close to the surrounding history – a feeling I have always had most strongly in Japan and places like Kyoto and Kamakura where so much has been preserved the way it has been for centuries.

Train Crossing

The railway is of course a more modern edition but not without its own audible charms at each level crossing.

Jufuku-ji Temple

Walking parallel to the train line I popped into Jufuku-ji Temple (亀谷山金剛寿福禅寺) which has a beautiful avenue leading up to it.

Jufuku-ji Temple

The temple isn’t open to the public but you can peer at the main hall through the inner gate.

Squid Takoyaki

After a long morning temple-stalking, I stopped off near Kamakura station for some yummy Takoyaki (たこ焼き). Read more in Part 2.

David avatar

3 responses

  1. Emin avatar
    Emin

    Great trip with superb photos. I just learned about this place in the Go Go Nippon game. You can go inside the Bronze Buddha right?

    Cool to see the Triforce on some photos. Maybe Link passed this shrine on his adventure.
    Thanks for this great article.

    1. Yes you can go inside the Buddha if you pay extra although I’m not sure what’s inside!

  2. Mary avatar
    Mary

    The line is long to go inside. You can see the construction a bit, but otherwise no reason to go.

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