Kamakura Day
Since I have some time on my hands before I begin work, I have decided to do some day trips out of Tokyo. Kamakura was first on the list. Kamakura is a ways south of Tokyo, about 1 hour straight by train. It is famous for being the sight of the Kamakura Shogunate, and a famous tourist spot because there are dozens of temples of all shapes and sizes every few feet.
After finding my way to the right train and getting to Kamakura, I immediately headed for the First place on my list - a temple called Hase-Dera. After about 15 minutes walking through some semi-old parts of the town, I arrived and discovered that not only does Hase-Dera have a beautiful Japanese garden, but a kick-ass view overlooking all of Kamakura and the sea beside it. It is a gorgeous temple and was a good starting point.
Now before I go on, I need to point out that I had planned my day trip according to where I found places on google maps. And Google maps sucks. You'll see why.
Next I headed for Sasuke Inari Jinja, looking for something a bit smaller. Following my maps app on my phone, I somehow found myself hiking up a VERY rugged mountain trail, and coming to the temple via the back route. It was a nice small scale temple, and there were lots of small dog god statues around, but I could only half enjoy it because of the sweat pouring into my eyes. It's still freaking hot here and walking through a wooden mountain after a short rain storm all adds up to near death. And to cap it off, I found a much better entrance to the temple that didn't involve going full Tarzan to get there. Seriously I think I understand how pilgrimages work now.
After picking my way through the back street of Kamakura and finding my way back to the main town, I found my next stop, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu (which was right by the station where I had arrived. Once again thank you google). Hachiman-gu is one of the biggest temples in Kamakura, both in terms of overall popularity and size. Had to walk up SO many stairs to get there, but it was worth it to see such a cool temple. It has a number of nice, adjoining gardens, small temples and pond areas too. I also met a really nice american couple for a moment, alway fun to meet new people.
After stopping for some lunch, I moved onto the next stop. After walking for 20 minutes in the fresh blazing sunlight, I found my way to Kenchoji. Another different sort of temple, more spread out and with an authentic Japanese seating area, I can't say this was the most interesting, but still fun to go and see.
Then it all turned to hell. I tried to find another temple I had heard about, but thanks to the maps app on my phone not knowing a damn thing, it sent me halfway up a mountain, 30 minutes from where I wanted to be, and It was still saying I was round the corner from it. It took so long to find my way back to the road that I just gave up on that temple and decided to head for the final stop on the list.
This meant walking back int he afternoon heat all the way back the way I had come, right to where I had started (Maps having its final joke). By the time I found my way back to Hachiman-gu, I had no energy reserves left to walk, so I found one of those human cart things (ok I can't remember the name). The 'driver' was a really friendly guy, who took me round the back way to where I wanted to go and showed me a bunch of really cool, unknown sites that were a genuine treat to discover.
The final stop was Kotoku-in, the most famous site of Kamakura, for no other reason than there is a HUMONGOUS statue of Buddha in it (seriously this thing was huge, and there was nothing else there of interest). After taking all the photos I could, I walked back to the station, missed my train and had to wait for the next one before getting back and passing out.
All in all today was a fantastic adventure, but the lesson is = always splash out on renting a Taxi. It is much less hassle.
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