What a day
to choose! Our last Saturday before school started again, the day before I
taught the lesson for Primary, a day rain fell in sheets…. It was a great day
though! We didn’t get to see nearly all we’d hoped, but we got to see what we
most wanted to see, and found a few treasures along the way.
First we got
up quite early. The train ride to Kamakura takes about 3 hours. We also missed
our first intended stop somehow. Kamakura has more than one station within the
city, and we were aiming for the Kita-Kamakura (North Kamakura) station. When we
ended up at the main station, we laughed a little wondering how we’d missed the
stop and quickly backtracked.
The northern
station is tiny! There’s not even really a ticket check of any kind. It’s
officially the smallest station I’ve ever walked through. A simple sign told
where the sights were and how far one must walk to reach each of them. While we
studied it to make sure we knew which way to go, a man approached us on his
bike and asked, “Do you understand my bad English?” in rather good English. We
said yes, and he explained that he wants letters in English to help him
practice. He handed each of us ad papers on which he’d written his address and
a little about himself. We saw him again a few times, talking to other English
speakers and handing out his address.
The Engakuji
(a Buddhist temple) sits on a hill nearly five minutes’ walk from the
Kita-Kamakura station. We simply followed the tracks and climbed the stairs. I
needed to get a drink from a vending machine in order to get change to pay the
small entry fees at the various sights there.
With the extra sports drink added to all the water in my bag, there was
no way I’d become dehydrated!
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| The Triforce! Yeah, the Zelda creators borrowed the Triforce shape from Buddhism |
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| "Triforce" shape again - it was on EVERYTHING! |
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| carving in stone (there were many of these, but this one came out best in photo) |
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| carving on door |
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| carving on door |
This temple
is the most important of the Zen Buddhist temples in Kamakura. The most prominent thing
within the compound is probably to the Great Bell at the very top of another
hill. (Kamakura has A LOT of hills.) We wandered around the compound, and
eventually wound our way to the bottom of the steps leading up to the bell. Let
me tell you, those are stairs of doom! They also curve off so you can’t even
see the top from the bottom. So basically you have no idea what you’re getting
yourself in to! It was worth it though, despite the rain. (In fact, most of the
staircase was so densely covered overhead that the rain didn’t even reach us.) While
the bell was cool, the view is what made it worth it for me. So beautiful!
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| this doesn't even do the view justice! |
Back near
the temple complex entrance, we found one more building we’d missed. I thought
of simply passing it, but decided to go give it a quick look. Boy am I glad we
did! The priests and priestesses within were practicing traditional Japanese
archery in their traditional clothing. As with almost anything done within a
shrine or temple, the process was very ritualistic. I wish I knew more about it
to write. Simply put, getting to see that was very neat!
We dropped
by the gift shop, where the owner (whose family lives on the premise) spoke a
bit of English to us and gave us a map of Kamakura. We bought some postcards
from him (and he was very surprised when I switched into Japanese to do so),
and listened to his advice about the hiking trails. He told us they would not
be safe since it had rained and would likely rain again.
A little
disappointed about not hiking today, we headed back to the train and rode back
down to Kamakura main. When we arrived, our stomachs demanded food. So our
search up the shopping street began. We found the cutest, smallest little
tucked-away restaurant. I’m pretty sure it’s run right out of someone’s
kitchen. Though the food prices soared a bit, the quality sure was worth it.
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| the aftermath of deliciousness - you can sort of see the cook behind the fan |
On our way
back toward the station, we stopped at a store that we’d passed by earlier,
knowing we’d never eat if we stopped there first. The store was filled to
bursting with Miyazaki movie goodies! The only reason it didn’t empty my
pockets was because I seem to adore the less popular of Miyazaki’s movies, so
there are less goodies I was truly interested in. The only thing I really
looked at with incredible longing was far too expensive to even truly consider.
At last we
hopped a bus and rode down to see the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) and the Hasedera
(temple), both of which I believe I’ve already written about in this blog. Here
are some pictures.
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| Keilani's Asian face was best for copying this dude |
After that
we headed toward the ocean. Good thing too, because our feet were really starting
to hurt by then, and a dip in the ocean would be perfect! On the way down we
found a place selling Ramune ice cream, which I’d been wanting ALL summer. A
truly delicious find, and nice to have in the day’s humid heat. (Yes, it was
hot despite the rain.)
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| ramune ice cream!! |
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| footprints in black and white sand |
After wading
in the ocean for a shorter time than we’d have liked, we got on the local train
line to get back to the station, then started our long commute back home. I
felt sad for the end of an awesome day, but I admit it was also nice to get
home, clean up, and sleep!
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