How I Spent My Spring Vacation: Kamakura, Hase Kannon, The Pacific Ocean

[ladynox25]

Monday morning hoya99 and I set out on our second and last day trip from Tokyo, this time heading further south of Yokohama to Kamakura. Again, we rode the Green Car, which I could very easily become addicted to. *grin* By now, I admit, I was getting fairly tired, both physically and mentally, with all the getting-up-early and tramping-around-all-day, but I was bound and determined to make the most of my trip, so tired or not, we were going to Kamakura[1]!

We changed trains from the JR Line to a little one-track train that I thought was incredibly cute and which hoya99 told me was absolutely *packed* during the festivals, which I can fully believe. This day, though, it was empty enough that we found seats and chatted until we got to our stop. I found it extremely interesting and more than a little unusual, that after we got off our train we had to go down a small flight of stairs and cross the tracks in *front* of it in order to leave the station. I was also very impressed with the Japanese railroad crossings--the bars, lights, signs, and whatnot--and also with the way that they were *obeyed*. But of course, they'd have to be--with many more people riding by train, and many more train tracks in proportion to land area, you either learn to respect trains or you end up dead. Around here, of course, most trains are freight only, most people have only ridden a train once or twice in their lives, if that, and usually at some tourist place when they were kids or something.

(Around here, crossing guards and lights are thought of as more of a suggestion than anything else and you repeatedly see signs--and hear PSA's and all--that tell you that if you try to race a train *you* will be the one to lose. It doesn't seem to have sunk in, since enough (possibly drunk) people (and not all of them teenagers either) try to do it every year to make those announcements necessary. Alas. Idiots.)

Anyway, we walked up the street to the shrine where the great Buddha of Kamakura resides--there used to be a temple building surrounding the statue but when it got blown away by a typhoon, they never rebuilt it. I well remember when hoya99 and I were planning this trip how surprised I was that Kamakura was in Japan. My first exposure to Kamakura as a place name (and, of course, the Buddha) was reading Kipling's Kim, which quotes at times from his poem The Buddha at Kamakura, and naturally, since Kim is set in what was then India, I assumed that Kamakura was also in India--or perhaps Pakistan or Bangladesh or maybe Tibet (since that was where the lama was from). I never thought it would be in Japan, of all places.

So when, several months ago, I learned that Kamakura was a day's trip away from Tokyo, I instantly asked hoya99 if we could go there, to which he said yes, hence this trip. And, after all that, the Buddha most certainly did not disappoint. Massive, bronze, with the patina, as you see in photographs, saintly not only because of his enlightened mean, but also, in some ways, because of how sacred it is to so many people, and, finally, as a work of art in its own right above and beyond any religious significance. I found it inspiring.

Going back downhill, we stopped at a second temple complex called Hase Kannon. Built into the side of a hill, this is much more extensive than the complex surrounding the Great Buddha and apparently houses many more bodhisattvas[2]. It was exquisite, with trees (flowering and non-flowering) artistically grouped around ponds of bright colored fish, little waterfalls (mostly man-made) making the air liquid with noise, the smell of incense wafting from various burners.

We went up a series of steps cut into the hillside and came up on an overlook. Since we were fairly far up the hillside by now, we had phenomenal views of Kamakura and the bay beyond. hoya99 and I were delighted and took many pictures. Coming down the hill, hoya99 led me over to part of the complex that housed a Shinto shrine[3], with its unmistakable bright orange tori standing in front of a tunnel that, essentially, led to a series of small caves within the hillside proper. In the caves were various statues. Not for the claustrophobic, that, since the tunnels were only about 4' tall.

One of the buildings at this complex housed a small museum that had a series of life-sized statues carved to represent the 30-something (I think it was 32) incarnations of a certain Buddha. I found that extremely interesting, as the progression was divided into roughly three stages. It started out in what had to be the realm of the demons and devils, those statues being tinted red with wild hair and angry expressions. From there, it moved into the human world, with women and men both represented. I was interested to note that apparently a grand vizier is considered a higher incarnation than a Brahmin. I always thought it was the other way around. Finally, the third division consisted of angels, minor deities, the god Indra, and finally the Buddha. All of those faces were incredibly serene. I spent a good amount of time going back and forth from the chart that listed each incarnation to the display, trying to sort out which one was which one! Sadly, the whole thing had a sign saying No Photography, or I probably would have photographed the whole thing.

Going further downhill past the train station, hoya99 led me down to the beach. At first I was concerned about getting mud on my shoes (they were my only pair!) but the sand was hard-packed. The tide was out, coming in, and a large amount of kelp was exposed on the sand, with ravens picking it over. Then I saw a shell shining in the sun and started running up and down the beach picking up shells, to hoya99's great amusement. I did limit myself to only a few, since we had no good way of transporting very many. I washed them off in the ocean as best I could, dried them, and stowed them in hoya99's backpack.

Although my collection was small, I was still fairly proud of it: 3 or 4 clam shells, 3 scallop shells (I think), what I think is an oyster shell, two pretty snail shells of different types, one small abalone shell, almost complete, and--prize of prizes, a whole (if small) purple sea urchin shell! *smile* I told hoya99 that the next time we go back, weather and schedules permitting, I want to go to Kamakura--to the beach--with materials to gather more shells. *grin*

Heading back to the train station, we stopped in Kamakura proper to take in the main shopping street. The first thing I saw coming out of the train station was a bank, so we stopped for me to change my last two traveller's checks[4]. Since it was now about lunchtime and we were hungry, hoya99 took me to a soba/udon restaurant, where I had my first experience trying to slurp hot noodles, Japanese style. I admit, I made a bit of a mess, but then, I take it that udon aren't the easiest thing to try to slurp down when the broth is burning your mouth. More practice is definitely in order, though. *grin* I did enjoy the meal.

From there we headed to a third temple complex that included, among other things, a large arching stone bridge that was, alas, closed to the public. hoya99 said that the last time he'd been there, it had been open. We thought it might be closed because it was such a steep arch and could be slippery in bad weather. There were a number of small pools or ponds in this complex, one of which contained a lovely little white heron (or maybe egret) that was fishing in the shallows. hoya99 took some very nice pictures. From there, we went up to the temple proper, which was up a quite steep staircase. Making our way down from there we passed by another small pond, which had an island in the middle that was reached by a small bridge. Alas, my camera batteries gave out as we were heading over to the island. Which was just as well, because after such an invigorating day, I was all too glad to get back on the Green Car and head back to the apartment! *grin*


[1] We got off the train at Kamakura, the town, but not at Kamakura, the train stop, which confused me a bit, but of course they have more than one stop in that town. *grin* Silly me.
[2] Is "bodhisattvas" the proper plural of bodhisattva?
[3] A Shinto shrine in the middle of a Buddhist temple complex! Like finding a Jewish Tabernacle in the middle of the National Cathedral!
[4] I had changed some, but not all, at the airport.

To be continued...

Comments

[turnberryknkn.livejournal.com]

(smile) Kamakura is a beautiful place. And next time, maybe you'll get to see Nikko and Hakone, two other day trips from Tokyo, which (IMO) are even more beautiful.

(Thank you very much for your kind permission to link. I think a lot of my readers would really enjoy your stories about my old home town. :-) )