Day 7: Kamakura

Today I had no scheduled plans and was completely at the mercy of my host family. So my host mother and I caught the train to Kamakura to spend the day exploring the temples. It was nice to have a relaxing day full of walking and admiring traditional Japanese culture, as well as the glorious autumn colours.

Our day began at the train station where we had a beautiful view out to the bay, which was again incredibly flat. The train station appeared in the anime Slam Dunk and as such, as such was an attraction for tourists, particularly Taiwanese tourists where apparently anime is quite popular. Never the less the view was spectacular, despite it not being a good day for the surfers. It was a very small train, of only two carriages or so, but it was packed! There was literally no personal space and you didn't need to hang onto anything (not that I could reach something to hold on to) because no one could move so no one could fall over.

Did I mention that the weather was amazing today?

Once we got off the train we walked to the first tourist location on today's agenda, Daibutsu - the Great Buddha. This was a spectacular bronze statue that was just as impressive as the great Cathedrals of Europe. It was built in 1252AD and has survived a tsunami in 1498 that destroyed the temple around it and the earthquake in 1923 which destroyed the base it sat upon, but not the statue itself. It was re-engineered in 1960 in order to strengthen his neck and make it possible for the Buddha to move on the base in order to reduce damage during earthquakes. Sitting an incredible 13.35m tall, he is truly an engineering marvel and an incredible sight to see.

The statue (obviously)

Some of the offerings in front

A view of the back - the line was to climb inside the Buddha, but it was so long I decided not to go

On the way out of the site, I happened to find Adam Elhindi from The University of Newcastle, who runs iLead, the program which gave me access to applying for this trip. It was a hilarious coincidence, he just so happened to be at the same tourist attraction as me whilst enjoying his working holiday. The place was so crowded too it would have been impossible to find me had we not been walking out next to each other purely by chance. The odds are so small it is crazy to have run into him. We had a very brief catch up before he had to run to catch up with his tour group so I didn't get to grab a photo but it was amazing to run into someone I know (again).

Our next stop was Hase-dera, another temple in the Kamakura area. It was up a very long flight of stairs, which was exhausting to climb, but the view was so worth it, very spectacular.

I said the view was good didn't I?

The temple itself was very peaceful, with beautiful gardens and amazing traditional architecture. It was a slice of the Japan you get sold in tourist videos - the feudal Shinto temple with Zen gardens. The gardens themselves were in the beginning of changing colour, with reds and yellows scattered  amongst a sea of green. Perhaps the only unnerving part of the temple was the number of Buddah statues put there by devotees. I am not talking about statues like those sitting in the shrines, I mean hundreds, possibly thousands, of identical statuettes staring at you as you wandered the different shrines, including a dark cave area. This was also the most jarring thing, as Christianity teaches not to make false idols and even our most extravagant cathedrals have few images in comparison to the Shinto/Buddhist temples I saw today. Just another reminder how different our cultures are.

Look at that traditional architecture - gorgeous isn't it?

Just one photo of one place of many Buddhas

A really cute Buddha - he was supposed to bring you peace

Me, on a bridge in one of the gardens - you can see fish in the pond!

Our next stop was Komachi Street, a very popular shopping strip. On the way, I ran into more people I knew, spotting Georgia in the crowds who happened to be out and about during her trip as part of the Shohoku Exchange Program run by my University at this time. She was with Tegan (from the plane) and I managed to grab a quick photo before they disappeared into the abyss of people. It really was an incredible crowd, I wasn't a fan. I almost lost my host mother a few times as we weaved in and out, trying to find somewhere to have lunch and when we gave up on that, we headed to the next temple.

Tegan, Georgia and myself before Komachi Street

Komachi Street and all of the people

The next temple was Kenchō-ji. It was a very crowded temple, partially because there were a lot of families there. During November, Japanese children aged 3, 5 and 7 are dressed in Kimonos and taken to temples to celebrate. I saw a lot of very tiny children in very beautiful kimonos, some were very funny because they were being mischievous and not acting at all like you would expect someone wearing very beautiful clothes would behave. We did not go into the temple as it was far too crowded and we had already had enough of the crowds. Instead, we took a small walk through a forest area that was nice and cool and then walked along some very narrow footpaths (only one person wide at times) to the next temple.

The path up to the temple had a number of food vendors

The stage that was used for the performance of music and rituals

We climbed up these stairs. On the left you can see what is left of the 800 year old tree that was the symbol of the temple. It fell down during a typhoon recently.

Our last stop was Engaku-ji; the entrance to which was a gorgeous example of autumn in Japan. This temple wound its way up the mountain side and was quite a climb up. However the gardens were exquisite and the inside of the main temple was very fancy. 

The entrance to the temple

Me at the temple entrance

At the exit to the main temple prayer area

Another building on our way up the mountain-side

Me on the way down the mountainside - we didn't go all the way up though

On the way home we stopped for a bit of shopping. The train trip was much nicer on the way back - we actually managed to get a seat on both trains. On returning home, I packed my bags because tomorrow I will sadly be leaving my host family to continue travelling. I have had such a fantastic time here in Chigasaki and I am very grateful to my home-stay family for facilitating my stay and feeding me such delicious food. I have discovered why very small cars exist (the roads here are 1 car wide if you are lucky), practised using chopsticks and experienced an earthquake. I cannot thank them enough for welcoming me into their home to share with me their life.

On a final note, I was given a CD of photos from my time teaching at the local Junior High School. Here are a small selection:

Answering questions with Grade 3 (Year 9)

Explaining the Pied Butcher Bird to Grade 1 (Year 7)

Class 1A - My class

That's all from Chigasaki. Tomorrow I leave to go see a Japanese Beer Factory and go Eco-Trekking, as well as experience Japanese Hot Springs. It has been a fantastic time here in Chigasaki and I whilst I am sad to go, I know more adventure awaits!