Kamakura 10K
As Nicki alluded to in her previous post, I went on a mission on Saturday, March 25, to see the cherry blossoms (or sakura) blooming in Kamakura. Actually, I had been stewing over plans to see more of Kamakura for a while, since most of my time in the fine town has been spent walking from the JR Kamakura Station to Hachimangu Shrine. Don't get me wrong, Hachimangu is a beautiful shrine, but Kamakura is arguably the most "traditional Japanese" place this side of Kyoto and we had barely scratched the surface since moving here nearly 6 months ago. There are countless other temples and shrines within the bounds of Kamakura, so I decided to see as many as I could between 8AM - 2PM. For this trip, my goal was "Quantity over Quality"... basically, I wanted to see as much as I could in a short timeframe. Since I was basically speed-touring Kamakura and ended up walking just under 7 miles from start to finish, I dubbed the day my "Kamakura 10K day". Photos are up in the Gallery, dated 04/05/2006.
As it turns out, I got to Kamakura about three days too soon for the peak of sakura season, but I was not at all disappointed with what I saw.
I started the day by taking a ride up to JR Kita-Kamakura Station, where I exited the station just in time to realize that I left my guide map at home. Fortunately, my excellent ESP skills (a compass and signs in English) helped guide me around fairly well. With my compass pointing south, I walked through Engaku-ji Temple, Meigetsu-in Temple, and Kencho-ji Temple along my way towards friendly Tsurugaoka-Hachimangu Shrine.
As I mentioned, the cherry blossoms weren't in full bloom at most of these places, but they were looking pretty good in and around Hachimangu.
I ate some yakitori for lunch at Hachimangu, then power slammed a quick bottle of water to keep myself hydrated. Afterwards, I continued east towards my final target, Hokoku-ji Temple, which was recommended to me by SushiJeff for having a really stellar bamboo garden. Along the way, I stopped off at Hokai-ji Temple, Egara-Tenjin Shrine, Kamakura-gu Shrine, and Sugimoto-dera Temple. I also saw the gravesite of Minamoto Yoritomo, who was the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate in 1192, but then died seven years later in 1199.
When I got to Hokoku-ji, it was a slight letdown. I was expecting to see a phenominal show, but it seemed at that point to be "just another temple", though that's an understatement because each of them seem to be unique in one way or another, but I was getting tired, hungry, and thirsty... and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why SushiJeff raved about the place.
Then I saw it, on the far side of one of the main temple buildings... a ticket window. Ticket windows always lead to great places in Japan. It said 200 Yen for admission and an additional 500 Yen for being served green tea. I wasn't quite in the mood for tea at the time, plus, I was getting really grungy looking from walking all that way, so I skipped the tea, paid my 200 Yen and went inside the garden area.
Unbelievable.
I've never seen that much bamboo in my life. The garden was actually fairly small, but it was incredible. There was a small stone path leading the way through the garden. Even though it was about 1pm when I arrived and the sun was overhead, I was completely shaded by the bamboo coverage. Very awesome. That's a place that I'll take Nicki and Josh one day so that we can spend the afternoon sipping green tea and letting Josh explore the giant sea of bamboo.
After leaving Hokoku-ji, I headed back towards the JR Kamakura station and made my way back home... limping but happy.
As it turns out, I got to Kamakura about three days too soon for the peak of sakura season, but I was not at all disappointed with what I saw.I started the day by taking a ride up to JR Kita-Kamakura Station, where I exited the station just in time to realize that I left my guide map at home. Fortunately, my excellent ESP skills (a compass and signs in English) helped guide me around fairly well. With my compass pointing south, I walked through Engaku-ji Temple, Meigetsu-in Temple, and Kencho-ji Temple along my way towards friendly Tsurugaoka-Hachimangu Shrine.
As I mentioned, the cherry blossoms weren't in full bloom at most of these places, but they were looking pretty good in and around Hachimangu.I ate some yakitori for lunch at Hachimangu, then power slammed a quick bottle of water to keep myself hydrated. Afterwards, I continued east towards my final target, Hokoku-ji Temple, which was recommended to me by SushiJeff for having a really stellar bamboo garden. Along the way, I stopped off at Hokai-ji Temple, Egara-Tenjin Shrine, Kamakura-gu Shrine, and Sugimoto-dera Temple. I also saw the gravesite of Minamoto Yoritomo, who was the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate in 1192, but then died seven years later in 1199.
When I got to Hokoku-ji, it was a slight letdown. I was expecting to see a phenominal show, but it seemed at that point to be "just another temple", though that's an understatement because each of them seem to be unique in one way or another, but I was getting tired, hungry, and thirsty... and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why SushiJeff raved about the place.Then I saw it, on the far side of one of the main temple buildings... a ticket window. Ticket windows always lead to great places in Japan. It said 200 Yen for admission and an additional 500 Yen for being served green tea. I wasn't quite in the mood for tea at the time, plus, I was getting really grungy looking from walking all that way, so I skipped the tea, paid my 200 Yen and went inside the garden area.
Unbelievable.
I've never seen that much bamboo in my life. The garden was actually fairly small, but it was incredible. There was a small stone path leading the way through the garden. Even though it was about 1pm when I arrived and the sun was overhead, I was completely shaded by the bamboo coverage. Very awesome. That's a place that I'll take Nicki and Josh one day so that we can spend the afternoon sipping green tea and letting Josh explore the giant sea of bamboo.
After leaving Hokoku-ji, I headed back towards the JR Kamakura station and made my way back home... limping but happy.
posted by Unknown | 8:09 PM
6 Comments:
Andy and I just enjoyed you photos. Great work! We, too, went up to to Kamakura recently for some cherry blossom photos. We only posted the favorites, but there are oodles more. The record of your day was fantastic as well. There are so many shrines and temples to visit. I can't imagine how you managed to see so many of them in one day!
Great photos! Kamakura is such a beautiful place.
That looks really awesome. I'd love to see some day. I can't believe you guys have been gone 6 months already!
Thanks, Ladies. Kristin, it'll be exactly six months on April 17, but I figured it was close enough. Aime, I agree. Kamakura is in my opinion the best "local" spot near us in Japan. Maggie, I saw the pics and Andy's story about your Kamakura trip up on your blog. Looks like you guys covered a lot of ground, too. Thanks for the comments, everyone!
Mike
Hi Mike--It was great to see these pics. I have a couple of questions though--first of all, what are all of the plates for? Also, are you sure that was really the bride? She looked much older than her new husband??!!??
Laura,
I have to assume that it was his soon-to-be wife. The parents on one side were there and they were quite a bit older.
The plates... that's a good question. I think they may have been collection plates for giving money to Buddha, but I am really not sure. The signs above the plates were written in Kanji, so I couldn't read them. I'll have to learn and get back to you.
Mike
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