It's a little rainy out but at least it's warm. We stopped off at a small rest stop close to Yokohama to take a bathroom break and get some snacks. Poor "A" got car sick. Thank goodness I brought a change of clothes for her and some Wet Wipes. Doug, whom she was sitting next too, was not so lucky. Poor kid, she gets carsick quite often. It'll make for interesting road trips here. I'll just make sure to always have wipes, plastic bags, crackers and a change of clothes like I would do stateside.
We finally get to Kamakura and like any beachside town there are little tourist shops and surf shops. However, one little eatery caught my eye...
Nothing like a Kua Aina Burger shop to make me homesick. I wonder if they are as good as the one in Haleiwa, HI? I want a nice juicy avocado burger. Oh well, onwards.
Our first stop was to Hasedera, The Hase Kannon Temple, a Buddhist temple in Kamakura. Here is "A" & I at the entrance to the temple grounds. I have no idea what the lantern above our heads says or what it symbolizes. I'll have to find out before we leave Japan.
There are a lot of steep steps to get to different areas but the grounds are beautiful and the entire area is so peaceful.
Our first stop was to Hasedera, The Hase Kannon Temple, a Buddhist temple in Kamakura. Here is "A" & I at the entrance to the temple grounds. I have no idea what the lantern above our heads says or what it symbolizes. I'll have to find out before we leave Japan.
There are a lot of steep steps to get to different areas but the grounds are beautiful and the entire area is so peaceful.
Climbing up these stairs brings you to different meditation gardens and a spectacular view of the town.
The grounds have beautiful ponds and greenery. Ah, to have a garden like this at your home...
Here is a photo of the actual temple which houses a large wooden sculpture of the bodhisattva, Kannon. You aren't allowed to take a photo of the sculpture in the building. The pamphlet our guide gave us explained the origins of the temple like this:
"The traditional story of the origins of the Hase Kannon Temple states that in 721, the pious monk Tokudo discovered a camphor tree, from which he carved two images of Kannon. the Kannon sculpted from the lower half of the camphor tree was enshrined in Hase-dera in the province of Yamato (present day Nara prefecture). The image made from the upper half was cast into the sea with prayers that it would reach in the land to which it had a karmic connection and save sentient beings. It washed on shore sixteen years later, on the evening of the eighteenth day of the sixth month of 736, at Nagai, in the Miura Peninsula, glowing brightly, it was said, upon the waters. This wooden image of Kannon was later transferred to its present site in Kamakura, where it was enshrined as the central image in a new temple, which Tokudo was invited to establish."
This may be a lesser temple but still beautiful.
Visitors also pay for prayer blocks to be written on and hung outside the temple and cave.
On the grounds there is an underground cave called the benten kutsu. In the cave there are low ceilings and narrow tunnels that lead to different nooks where you find statues of a goddess. According to Wikipedia, the sculptures are of the goddess,
"Benzaiten, the sea goddess and the only female of the Seven Lucky Gods in Japanese mythology."
The Benzaiten (a goddess of feminine beauty and wealth) at Hasedera is a small, eight-armed figure enshrined in the Bensaiten Hall beside the pond. Here are "A" and Doug at the entrance to the cave under a Torii Gate.
Upon entering you come upon a large cavern whose walls are "inscribed with images of Benzaiten and sixteen children, representing minor gods serving Benzaiten."
From the large cavern you take a system of very narrow tunnels. This may not be the best place if you suffer from claustrophobia.
The tunnels take you to different caverns that also have stone statues of goddesses.
Another cavern has hundreds of little sculptures of the goddess.
Once back outside, you come upon more gardens and sculptures. Now I don't know if these depict Buddha or a bodhisattva, it's been awhile since I took Eastern Religious Studies & Eastern Philosophy in college.
Happy "A" & Happy Buddha
These guys are so cute, how can you not want to take their picture? I would love them in my own Zen garden. Oh yeah, I live currently live in an apartment. :(
On a sadder not, you will come upon the Jizou-dou. The little statues of Jizou on both sides of the Jizou-dou have been placed there to pray for children who were stillborn, miscarried or aborted.
So..... That was the first leg of our trip to Kamakura. If you want to read more about Hasedera, here is a link to Wikipedia.
By the way here is the road the bus driver took to get to the temple.
The second stop in our trip was to see the Great Buddha of Kamakura or as it's know the Daibutsu.
It was a short 30 minute drive from the Hasedara Temple to Kotoku-in, the temple where the Great Buddha is.
Here is "A" at the entrance posing next to the Foo Dog or I think its real name is Komainu.
The Kamakura Daibutsu or The Great Buddha is located in the precincts of the Kotokuji Temple. The bronze figure was said to have been cast in 1252 by Goroemon Ono or Hasatomo Tanju and is a national treasure. It was originally enclosed in a large hall that was initially damaged by a storm in 1369 and then completely washed away by tidal waves in 1495. From then on, the sculpture has remained in the open.
The Daibutsu. So peaceful, so majestic. The position of the hands on the lap with palms up and thumbs touching represent the Buddhist sign for steadfast faith. The expression of the Daibutsu "depicts the perfect repose and passionless calm which is the root idea of Buddhist doctrine."
How big is the Buddha? From the top of the pedestal to the top of the Buddha, it is measured at 38 feet. The length of the face itself, from chin to top of the "hair" is 7 feet, 8 inches.
The statue is hollow inside and for about 5 yen you can climb into the Great Buddha. Of course, we had to do it. Here is "A" posing on the inside, from the shape of the interior it looks like we are in his chest cavity.
Finally, we walked around and "A" wanted to wash her hands at one of the temple's water wells. There is an entire ceremony on the proper way to wash our hands and mouth. I'm sure we messed up.
Our last stop was to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu (The Minamoto Shrine). We were allowed to walk around the surrounding town and have lunch. Doug, "A" and I decided to get something to eat before visiting the shrine. Poor "A" still had an upset stomach. Didn't help that I got her a grape sherbert at the Daibutsu which then came up while walking around. Poor kid. I went to find a bakery so she could have some bread to absorb all that churning tummy acid. Seemed to help, so we had lunch at a tempura shop. The locals are very kind and gracious. They accept our lack of the Japanese language and we make due with the point and smile method of ordering. After we walked around the town a little to take in the local culture and shops. It's one of my favorite things to do.
"A" likes posing by the "lucky cat" statues.
After lunch we headed back to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu and walked around to the different areas. The Minamoto Shrine is dedicated to the emperor, Ojin. Similar to the temple there are many different walking paths that bring you to wooded areas. It's very peaceful even if it's in the middle of a town.
The steps leading down and up to the shrine. At the shrine you can throw yen into a receptacle and pray to the Shinto gods.
From the temple you can walk back into town. It's nice that you can come here away from the bustle of the streets and relax walking around the grounds or around the koi ponds.
And that was the end of our trip. By the way, we all need to do a shout out to the AMAZING bus drivers. The streets in Japan are very narrow and very crowded. These drivers can maneuver a large bus with ease. It's a gift. Don't believe us. Here's the bus driver's mad parking skills at our last of the day, the Minamoto Shrine. Yes, he backed into that space.
And here is "A" and myself trying to maneuver our way back to our bus.
We had a great time on our first site seeing trip around Japan. A few little mishaps but it was so much fun. We can't wait to explore more of Japan. By the way, if you want to learn more about the places we've visited I've linked the names to basic information about them. Why? Because I'm nice like that.
Sorry, this is a long blog but hey, it was a long day.
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