A great Buddha

Monday, May 5, 2008 - Day trip to Kamakura

Today we decided to take a day trip one hour outside of Tokyo to Kamakura. Kamakura, a small town located to the southwest of Tokyo on Sagami Bay, is home to no less than 65 Buddhist temples and 19 Shinto shrines.

The most famous attraction in Kamakura is the Great Buddha, called the Daibutsu in Japanse and located at Kotokuin Temple. The Great Buddha is a 37 ft. bronze statue that weighs 93 tons. It is so big that you can walk inside of it. Take a look at the video and pics that follow.

The thing I found most striking about the Great Buddha other than its sheer size is how peaceful it looks. As a Frommer's author puts it, "I find it more inspiring and divine, as though with its half-closed eyes and calm, serene face it's above the worries of the world. It seems to represent the plane above human suffering, the point at which birth and death, joy and sadness merge and become one." I am not sure I buy all that, but it definitely looked peaceful and serene. I have no doubt this was in part due to the surroundings.

Kamakura is enclosed on three sides by wooded hills and the fourth side by the sea (Sagami Bay). You can smell the sea water when you get off the train at the subway station. The village, now town, was built up in the 12th century when Yoritomo Minamoto sized political power from the emperor and established his own shogunate government. This is a fancy way of saying a military government. Yoritomo chose Kamakura as the location for his village because he could easily protect it with the wooded hills on three sides and the sea on the fourth.

Yoritomo was a warrior and one of the most important shrines he constructed was Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. Try to say that as fast as you can five times in a row :) The Shrine is dedicated to Hachiman, the Shinto god of war.

We actually visited this shrine first because it is an easy walk from the train station. You actually walk down a cherry tree-lined (too bad they had already bloomed) pedestrian lane that was constructed by Yoritomo in the 1190s. As you walk down the lane you pass through massive red toriis at set intervals (look below for a pic of Meg in front of one). Anywhere you find a shrine you will find at least one torii, this is the traditional entry gate. According to Frommer's the pedestrian lane was constructed just so his oldest son could make his first visit in style with an elaborate procession. Wow, I wish my parent's would have been that cool :) Take a look at some pics of the pathway and the Shrine below.

We visited one other shrine and the best part was the views we got once we climbed to the top of the steps. Take a look at a few of the pics below.

The highlight of the trip for Meg was lunch. I think the main reason is because she got to watch me suffer through an entire lunch sitting cross-legged on a tatami mat. The food was actually pretty good once my legs went numb. Man, I would never make it over here :)

After lunch, we packed up and headed back for the train station. On our way we were fortunate enough to walk past a little road side restaurant where they made homemade crepes. Meg and I went for the banana, whipped cream, and chocolate. It was excellent and made up for all the pain I experienced during lunch. Take a look at the pic below of the lady making our delicious crepe.

We were headed back to the train station because we needed to get back to Tokyo to catch a 6:20PM professional baseball game. That experience is worthy of an entire post in itself, so I am going to wrap this one up and post the other one later. Love to all!

Jason and Meg