Saturday, December 20--Return to Kamakura

We made our second sight-seeing trip to Kamakura today, to explore a few more of the famous landmarks. We transferred from the main JR line to the smaller Enoden train, which kind of feels like riding on the electric train set in someone’s basement. It rambles along on a single track, literally inches from people’s back doors. At Hase station, we got off and followed the signs to Hase-Dera Temple, which is one of the more beautiful ones we’ve seen. The various halls of the temple are situated on a hillside, and climbing to each one gives an ever-expanding view of Kamakura Beach (there is an observation platform with picnic tables at the top, where you can enjoy lunch if you can avoid the diving seahawks). The grounds are beautifully maintained, even in winter, and I can only imagine how stunning they must be when the trees and flowers are blooming. The main attraction at the temple is the 30 foot statue of Kannon, which is usually translated in English as “the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy,” even though it is technically neither male or female. The statue, which was supposedly carved from half of a camphor tree in 721, has eleven heads surrounding the main one, each with a different expression, meaning the deity listens to the wishes of all types of people. The statue is entirely covered in gold leaf--applied in 1342! The age of some of these Japanese cultural treasures really reinforces just how young the United States is, and what a short amount of time our country’s history spans.

After wandering the temple grounds, and eyeballing the various mysterious snacks offered in the gift shop, we walked a bit further up the street to finally see what everyone has been talking about since we arrived in July—the Great Buddha. Known as Daibutsu, this enormous bronze statue of Buddha is the second largest in Japan. It was cast in 1252 to replace the wooden image of 1243 that was damaged by a storm. Over the years, three temple halls were built to protect statue, but each one was destroyed by storms…a fourth temple was washed away by a tidal wave in 1498. Finally, they gave up the idea of a shelter, and the Buddha now sits serenely outside in the open air. Earthquakes have also been troublesome to the statue--in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the base was destroyed. The most recent repairs in 1960-61 strengthened Buddha’s neck and allow the statue to now move freely on its base in case of another severe earthquake. The 44 foot, 93 ton statue is hollow inside, and it is said that homeless and gamblers once lived inside. Now, for ¥20, tourists can go inside Buddha’s belly and look all the way up through his neck to his head.

We chose a great day for sight-seeing, and the clear blue sky made a fantastic back-drop for our photos of the temple and of Buddha. We understand now why so many people talk about these two locations in Kamakura, and we’ll definitely add them to our list of places to take visitors (and I KNOW we are going to have visitors—ya’ll promised).