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Day Three
Kamakura
Shaky start today, lack of sleep for both us & it appears to be raining outside - no Mount Fuji for us today, where else to explore???
After scouting around on the Internet Andy came across a place outside of Tokyo called Kamakura. Rucksacks packed with waterproofs, water & a bag of crisps we where on our way!
The train journey began - From Asakuska on the Ginza train line to Ueno. Ueno to Tokyo on the Yamanote line. Tokyo to Ofuna on the Toukaido line. Ofuna to Kamakura on the Yokosuka line.
Arriving at Kamakura station & it was bustling with people, mainly tourists & Japanese school kids - it was apparent that this is a real tourist hot spot & to be prepared for chaos. After grabbing a map we decided to trek the 30 minute walk to see Japan's 2nd largest Buddha. Walking down narrow traditional looking streets this was somewhat different to Tokyo. It was a lovely town with lots of shops & again lots of places to chow down. After getting reassurance from a lady in a fruit & veg shop that we were still heading in the right direction we stumbled across Hase-Dera temple.
Outside the temple there was lots of Japanese children that came running up to us. They were waving pieces of paper for us to read. Upon reading the paper we realised that the children were learning english at school & they needed some guinea pigs to try it out on - it was obvious, we had to be them guinea pigs hahaha! After several attempts of conversation & photographs we signed their papers & off they went amazed at speaking to real english people & not Americans or Canadians!
We entered inside the Hase-Dera temple & its grounds, again it was a stunning place that looked full of wonders. Everywhere you looked there was greenery, trees or fabulous designed Japanese gardens. There were steps leading up to the main hall. Inside the main hall there was a massive gold statue (Kannon) who is the goddess of mercy & compassion, along with Jizo (Jizo is the patron of boddhisatava of travellers & departed children) this is one of Japan's most popular Buddhist deities. My first reaction when seeing this was wow this is great so I started to take photos left, right & centre until a small Japanese man ran at me shouting "no photo, no photo" - oops!
At the side of the main hall there was a courtyard that incased thousands of stone Jizo statues ranging from big to small around its parameters. All the statues were lined up like an army. The place looked magnificent & peaceful yet, it was sad as the Jizo statues are there to represent women's lost babies. There was also a small dark cave we entered & walking through one tunnel to the next there were shrines with candles a mini Jizo states which have been placed there in prayer by women who have lost their babies through miscarriage or abortion.
After the Hase-Dera we continued to follow the crowd so we headed further up on another narrow road towards the Daibutsu (Great Buddha). We paid our entrance fee then entered the grounds. At first we thought there wasn't much to see until we entered a massive courtyard. Sitting there was the biggest statue we have ever seen. It stands at 11.4 metres tall & is 850 tonnes of cast bronze. It's the 2nd biggest Buddha in Japan. Just for the sake of it we decided to go inside but to be honest there wasn't much more to see on the inside.
In Kamakura there are plenty of temples to see, in order to see them all you would probably need at least 2 full days in the area. As it had been a long day we decided that we had seen the main attraction so we headed back for the train station. Why is it that when you tired & hungry it always appears that going back is further actually going???
After a rest back at the hostel we decided to grab some supper. Being sick of rice & noodles already we found a Japanese Italian! After ordering a bit of everything on the menu we waited in anticipation for the food. To be honest we should have stuck to Japanese cuisine as the Italian was strange to say the least but Andy thought it was ok!
Back in the capsule & ready for a long awaited sleep. Tomorrow Mount Fuji for definite...............
- comments
mummy harrison fab account, feel as if I was there (just a little). have a fab time and enjoy all your wonderouse experiences.
Emma this is like reading a book, i can't wait for the next chapter(s).x