Shrines, temples & sea swimming in Kamakura

Day trip to Kamakura, one of the former feudal capitals of Japan. It's 20-odd miles southwest of Tokyo, next to the sea. I'd heard there were several historic shrines and temples to see, plus a beach where I hoped to swim!

I took three trains to get there; the third one was a unexpectedly historic-looking electric train with some wooden fittings in the interior.

Part of the journey went right next to the sea for a while and the sun came in and out, as it did for much of the day. It was nice to get out of the big city and get more of a sense of openness and nature; although the university campus I work at is very leafy, with magnificent mature trees, and the air is often filled with the sound of cicadas and birdsong, there isn't the same feeling as there is in the countryside.

After admiring an unusual clock tower in front of the train station, I got even more of a sense of nature as I made my way to and from the first three shrines in or near Kamakura; especially the second one, as it lay partly within a forest. I also walked through lots of backstreets, some of which backed onto the side of a lushly-vegetated hill.

There was a really lovely scent of vegetation. Two aspects of nature I could have done without, though - one was a large spider with bright yellow patches on it, which was hanging in its web from a tree (too high up for my head to get caught in it, thank goodness), and the other was the biggest wasp-like insect I've ever seen in the wild - in fact it was most likely a hornet - crawling on the ground next to the second shrine. Luckily it didn't seem to have any friends with it...

The first temple I went to is called Kotoku-in and is famous for its giant, bronze, outdoor statue of Buddha in a seated position in its courtyard. Before I got to it I passed through an entrance gate containing a red and blue painted wooden statue of a guardian god on each side of the passageway.

The Great Buddha was constructed in 1252 and although the base had to be repaired after the Great Earthquake of 1923, the body itself escaped damage. In 1960-61, however, the neck was strengthened and the body enabled to move freely if another big earthquake were to occur, thus helping it to survive.

I'd heard that people can pay an extra 20 yen to go inside the Buddha and see how it was constructed, but unfortunately there was a notice up saying that they're not allowing that currently due to the pandemic.

There was a beautifully decorated metal incense-burner in front of the Buddha, with incense burning in it, along with a big wooden box with long slots in the top. I saw several people praying by bowing, throwing coins in the box, clapping twice, then putting their hands together and bowing again.

I came across the slightly surreal sight of two giant rope sandals hanging up on display. 1.8 metres in length, 0.9 metres in width and weighing 45 kg, apparently they are titled 'Great Buddha's medicinal sandals', and were produced and donated to the temple by the Matsuzaka Children's Association, continuing their tradition (dating from 1956) of producing and donating a new version of these sandals roughly every three years. The reason was the children's wish for the Great Buddha to travel throughout Japan and bring happiness to all people.

Some more general pictures of the shrine, as well as one of some carved stones outside one of the entrances/exits:

Next I went to three Shinto shrines. The first was Sasuke-inari-jinja, dedicated to the god Inari, who is represented as a fox. As a result, there are hundreds of fox totems there, mostly tiny white ceramic ones but also some stone statues. The shrine lies on a forested hill, so to get there I had to ascend lots of steps through a succession of red shrine gates (torii) with vertical flags.

In addition to the main shrine building, there were several smaller shrines scattered about, including a wooden arch in front of a small cave containing a pool of water, overgrown piles of stones in the forest, and wooden stands and another shrine gate up a steep set of steps behind the main building. Fox-figures were everywhere! There was a shop selling charms and fortunes, so I bought a fortune for 200 yen (about £1.25).

The next shrine I went to, Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku, was very atmospheric. To get to the entrance I had to walk through a short cave-like tunnel before arriving in a clearing. I was struck by the amount and variety of tiny ferns growing in patches by the entrance and in the rocky tunnel.

At this shrine there's a natural spring in a cave where people wash money to bring them luck; it's believed that any money you wash and then spend, you'll eventually get back threefold. I decided to join in, because why not... I had a good look at what other people were doing first, so I'd know what the procedure was. It turned out that you bought the use of a smallish wicker bowl, together with a bundle of incense sticks and a small white candle. You lit and left the candle at a candle stand, then you lit the incense bundle from that (or from the big 'master' candle already lit) and stuck the now-smoking incense in a large cauldron-like holder with sand in it. I lit my candle for Dad.

The next step in the procedure is to ascend the steps to the shrine, which you can't enter; you pray in front of it. I missed that step out, however, as I went on to the cave a few metres away in order to see how the money-washing procedure happened. You put whatever money you want into the wicker bowl, then take one of the provided metal ladles, crouch and ladle water from the spring over the bowl, giving the latter a shake or two as you do so. Then you find your own way of drying the money! I saw other people using cloths which they seemed to have brought with them; I used tissues. The notes were still a little damp, but soon dried out.

On my way to the third Shinto shrine I passed the Kamakura Museum of History and Culture. I had wanted to visit, but there was a notice in English saying that it was temporarily closed due to changing of exhibitions. Oh well... I found an ice cream parlour open instead and had a baked sweet potato flavour ice cream - a flavour I was very keen to try, as I had a feeling it would work very well. I was right, as it did - it was delicious! Sweet potato seems quite a common flavour or ingredient in desserts, bakery items, etc., in Japan, unlike in the U.K. I'm definitely a fan!

I also passed a Christian church for the first time in Japan. i was curious to see how the interior was similar or different to ones I've seen in other countries, but it appeared to be closed.

The shrine I was heading to was Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu, the biggest shrine in Kamakura. Hachiman is the Shinto god of warfare. The grounds were extensive and beautiful; I was particularly impressed by a lake containing loads of lotus plants sticking upwards, creating a sea of green.

The shrine structures were impressive, too.

In one of them I caught part of a wedding ceremony! Everyone was wearing traditional dress, including three musicians who were playing traditional instruments. The ceremony involved lots of bowing and the presenting or showing of different ceremonial items.

The last temple I went to was the tiny Buddhist Enno-ji Temple, though the main god represented there was actually one which came via China and India, reflecting the influence Hinduism and Taoism had on Buddhism as the latter developed. This was the terrifying figure of Enma Diao, one of the Ten Judges of Hell.

There were some other historically and culturally significant statues around the walls. One of them was a wooden statue of Zen Master Zhijue, the monk who founded Ennoji temple in 1250:

Others you can see below.

I had originally planned to go round the corner from there to one last temple which has a famous Zen garden, but I didn't have time for it in the end as I needed to make my way to the beach before the afternoon drew on any further. The beach was nice, though the buildings along the seafront looked like modern developments, not historic.

When I arrived there appeared to be a windsurfing race going on in the distance, which was interesting to see. Closer to shore several people were surfing.

After picking up a couple of interesting shells I got into the water - it was quite warm and I enjoyed my swim a lot. The first time I had touched the North Pacific Ocean... I thought at the time that if I carried on swimming in a straight line long enough I would probably not hit anything until North America, but after looking at the map later, I realised that the bay I was swimming in points to the south, so I'd actually hit Indonesia or Papua New Guinea, if I didn't hit one of the further-out Japanese islands first. I was the only person swimming rather than surfing.

On my walk back to the station afterwards, I passed some really good supermarkets and fresh produce stores with a great range of things - they looked better than my local supermarket in Tokyo. I wished I had time to stop properly and do some shopping there. They're on my list of places to visit when I come back to Kamakura sometime, along with the museum I mentioned before, another museum I didn't have time for (attached to the Hachiman shrine) and other historic temples I didn't have time to visit this time!