Temples and trains...lots of both!

Asia » Japan » Shizuoka » Ito
October 28th 2011

Published: October 29th 2011

We left early on Thursday morning for Kamakura by train. We arrived in Kamakura after about two hours and three transfers.....It was a beautiful day...sunny and warm, but not too hot. We walked from temple to temple, along with crowds of school kids, older Japanese tourists and a very few "gaijin" (foreigners). We have seen so few non-Japanese here (except for on the base of course), that it alm... Read Full Entry

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Lynn Beebe

Beebe

I was a primary teacher in a K-12 alternative school. In 2006, I took a leave for four months, travelling through Central America. I visited schools and studied Spanish along with being a tourist. My class followed my travels through this blog. I have continued to use this blog to keep friends, family and my students connected to my travels, recently in Mexico and now Kenya! 2009 I am now retired and my husband and I hope to do even more traveling! I am volunteering in an after-school program on the Indian reservation where we live and at the local art museu... full info

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Tokei-ji

This temple was a haven for women escaping unhappy marriages, founded in 1285. Women at that time could never get divorced, while men could. If a woman made it here without getting caught, she could live as a nun for 2-3 years and then be officially divorced.

Tokei-ji

It was so peaceful here....

Old cave at Tokei-ji

Entrance to Kencho-ji

This is the first ranked of all the Buddhist temples in Kamakura, and is also a working monastery. It was completed in 1253. Like all temples, it was destroyed many times over by earthquakes and fire. This entry gate was built 1784, and is also called the "Badger's Gate", in reference to the tale of a badger who was helped by monks.

750 year old trees at Kencho-ji

Inside of the Buddha Hall (I think..)

Bill buying incense to light....

All the temples smell so good....the incense is wonderful...

"Chinese Gate"

Moved here from Tokyo in 1647.

Detail of Chinese Gate

Bonsho: bell from 1255

Minamoto Shrine (Shinto)

More boisterous than the Buddhist temples...

Roofs at Minamoto

Restaurant where we had lunch in Kamakura

Daibutsu

Built 1292, 300 years before Europeans came here. Cast in pieces, it is 37 feet high. Used to be enclosed by a wooden structure that was washed away by a tsunami in 1495.

Inside the Buddha....the metal was so warm form the sun...felt alive!

It only cost a few cents to go inside....

Lotus sculpture and Daibutsu

Roofs at the Hasa-Dera Temple

This is the last temple we visited. Legend has it that in 721, a monk discovered a camphor tree large enough to carve two statues of Hase Kannon at this location. One statue is enshrined here.

Jizo-do

This area is dedicated to unborn children (those aborted or still born). There are gifts of baby toys in the shrine.

Man photographing the smaller Amida Buddha statue

Which is forbidden! The statue is gold painted, and very beautiful....I went into the room and knelt for a few minutes....

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Temples and trains...lots of both!

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