First Excursion: Kamakura
PLEASE NOTE: I have not had the chance to watermark all of my photos, and it will take me a great deal of time, as I published this and my other blogs between 2010-2017. I ask you to respect my property. Feel free to use them as long as you credit me as follows: Photo by Jody McBrien, learningtheworld.org. Thank you.
Today, April 13, we left on a long weekend excursion - first to Kamakura, and then onto a place still unknown to Dick.
Kamakura is the original capital of Japan, home to the shoguns in the 12th and 13th centuries, and established as the political center of Japan by shogun Minamoto Yurimoto in 1192. There are many temples and shrines, at least 30. We found our way (with kind help - any local seeing people looking lost tends to come up to help!) from Hachioji changing trains in Yokohama. Our airbnb host gave excellent directions for catching a bus from there. For a much better price than I hotel, we have an entire apartment to ourselves in a great location.
We began our walk with a stop at a recommended soba shop for (a rather expensive) lunch. I wasn't so into the food. So wonderful to have a husband that enjoys almost any meal!
We were just minutes from the Hasedera Temple.
There is a legend about a monk who carved two elven-headed Kannons from a camphor tree. One was given to Hasedera Temple in Nara; the other was thrown into the sea, washing up on shore 15 years later near Kamakura. A temple was built to honor it.
From there, it was another 5 minute walk to Daibutsu, the Great Buddha. It is a bronze statue of the Amida Buddha, erected in 1252 at 13.35 metres tall. Originally it was in a large temple hall. Typhoons and a tidal wave destroyed the buildings in the 14th and 15th centures. Since 1495, it has remained in the open air and is the second largest Buddha in Japan (the largest being in Nara).
On our walk back to the apartment, we passed a shop with beautiful and very reasonable used kimonos. I had been hoping to get one. Dick wonderfully bought it for me for my August 1 birthday:
After a couple hours resting in the apartment we ventured back out to the German restaurant we passed in the afternoon. I admit I was delighted to have some plain Western food. The owners had just had their 60th anniversary of The Sea Castle, their restaurant. There was no one else there, so we enjoyed talking to the woman proprietor who moved to Japan with her family during WWII.
NOTE: July 2018 date on post is republish date, not date of the event.
Today, April 13, we left on a long weekend excursion - first to Kamakura, and then onto a place still unknown to Dick.
Kamakura is the original capital of Japan, home to the shoguns in the 12th and 13th centuries, and established as the political center of Japan by shogun Minamoto Yurimoto in 1192. There are many temples and shrines, at least 30. We found our way (with kind help - any local seeing people looking lost tends to come up to help!) from Hachioji changing trains in Yokohama. Our airbnb host gave excellent directions for catching a bus from there. For a much better price than I hotel, we have an entire apartment to ourselves in a great location.
We began our walk with a stop at a recommended soba shop for (a rather expensive) lunch. I wasn't so into the food. So wonderful to have a husband that enjoys almost any meal!
We were just minutes from the Hasedera Temple.
There is a legend about a monk who carved two elven-headed Kannons from a camphor tree. One was given to Hasedera Temple in Nara; the other was thrown into the sea, washing up on shore 15 years later near Kamakura. A temple was built to honor it.
View from the hillside of the temple
We love our cats!
The koi pond
Cave at the temple
Small raked garden at the temple
Hundreds of small Jizo Bodhisattva statues that are said to help the souls of young diseaced children reach paradise
A View from the hills of Hasedera
After a couple hours resting in the apartment we ventured back out to the German restaurant we passed in the afternoon. I admit I was delighted to have some plain Western food. The owners had just had their 60th anniversary of The Sea Castle, their restaurant. There was no one else there, so we enjoyed talking to the woman proprietor who moved to Japan with her family during WWII.
NOTE: July 2018 date on post is republish date, not date of the event.
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