鎌倉市 (Kamakura)

For a nice day trip, I decided to venture down to the city of Kamakura. This city used to be the capital of Japan (about 900 years ago), and today has plenty of temples and also the "Giant Buddha"! This city was first founded by Minamoto no Yoritomo (remember this name!) who at the time was a very powerful man in Japan and created the Kamakura shogunate (a Japanese feudal military government). 

This is a SUPER LONG post, so be aware. Also, before we begin I think we should understand a little about Japanese spiritual beliefs... most Japanese identify as non-religious, but the two major faiths are Shinto and Buddhism. I think most people know about Buddhism, but briefly Shintoism is the belief that everything in nature (even rocks) contain the presence of gods or goddess (called kamis). Most of the temples are a mixture of Shinto and Buddhism.




Before visiting the temples, I ate at a little restaurant that could probably only host about 10 people total. Seriously, the room was small. There was one old lady who was the waitress and the cook... I asked to take her photo because she was cute. She also thought I was Italian before I started speaking.

My stomach full, I headed onward! I was actually looking for the Buddha statue but got lost, instead finding a bunch of temples. The first one is called Tsurugaoka Hachimango.

This is apparently the city's most important Shinto shrine and is dedicated to Hachiman, patron god of Samurai and of the Minamoto clan. Apparently there used to be a giant 1000 year old Ginkgo tree but it was uprooted in a storm in 2010. The picture above shows the Maiden (structure at the bottom) and the Senior Shrine (at the top). A couple was getting married in the Maiden. 

This is called a Shishi (lion dog or Komainu). His job is to protect the entrance to the Senior Shrine, which is pictured below. I learned through online sleuthing that the pair are depicted with one having its mouth open (to scare off demons) and the other closed (to shelter and keep in the good spirits). He is actually in front of where the 1,000 year old tree was... coincidentally, also the site of the assassination of the 3rd Shogun (Minamoto Sanetoma) by his nephew Kugyo in order to become the new Shogun (however, due to a identity mix-up it didn't happen for him). 

At the bottom of the shrines, there was a little island with another shrine called Hataage Benzaiten Shrine. Benzaiten is sorta like the Indian goddess Sarasvati (in Japan, the Goddess of fortune). There were a lot of white flags around it, which apparently are the colors of the Minamoto clan. 

An important thing to note is that before entering the temple or shrine, you're supposed to "cleanse yourself of your impurities" at a station called the chozuya. I didn't see everyone do it so I guess it's not a requirement, ha. Note the mask!

There was another one that had instructions (naturally written in Japanese). The method is to first dip water using the right hand, pour it over the left (and vice versa). After washing, shift dipper to right hand, pour water into left palm, rinse mouth and quietly spit out water (I never saw anyone do that). Then hold dipper upright in both hands and rinse it with remaining water to purify it. 

In addition to the votives from earlier posts, they had a little fortune on a piece of paper called omikuji. I found out too late that they had fortunes in English, otherwise I would have gotten one! Tradition is that if it's bad, you tie it up to leave the bad luck there... if it's good you can do that too (to intensify the luck) or you can keep it with you.

I also asked these ladies if I could take their photo... I'm not sure why they are wearing kimonos (I probably could have asked, since they spoke English). Internet search failed me. :(

After that, I wandered around and took a scenic hike on the Gion-yama Hiking Course, which led me to another shrine (Yagumojinja Shrine). 

I didn't really stop there, however, and instead went to a Buddhist temple called Kinryuzan-Shakumanin-Endon-Hokaiji. This had a really beautiful garden with cherry blossoms just beginning to show! I'll save the cherry blossom photos for another temple I visited. The large gate below is called a torii, which marks the entry into a Shinto shrine (sometimes Buddhist if they are joined).

However, there were a lot of little statues with red bibs... this is the Buddhist monk Jizo, who is a protector of children and travelers. The red bib, I think, is used by the giver to accrue good fortune in the afterlife. 

Speaking of red bibs, a few of the temples had Inari temples that were guarded by foxes (considered the messenger of Inari) which go by the name of kitsune. Inari is the considered the patron to farmers, merchants and rice. Her shrines are typically protected from the "demon gate to the northeast" (a feng shui principle) by a pair of kitsune. They are usually in red dibs for reasons that I can't figure out.

After that, I went to the Hasedera Temple. 

This had a beautiful temple pond with a lot of flowers and trees. 

They also had cute little Jizo statues. I mentioned him briefly before, but didn't go into detail about his specific job. Apparently, children who die before their parents (specifically via miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion) are unable to cross the Sanzu River (kinda like the Styx River) to the afterlife as punishment for causing great sorrow to their parents. A horrible creature named Shozuka-no-Baba tells the children they can get to heaven by piling enough stones to build a stairway, but demons controlled by Shozuka-no-Baba destroy the piles and beat the children. Jizo consoles the children by hiding them in the sleeves of his robe.

Jizo with lots of mini-Jizos from grieving parents.

I thought this picture of the protectors was pretty cool. I think these are known as Nio Protectors.

They had some other shrines with awesome statues that I wasn't allowed to take photos of, so here are some internet photos for your viewing pleasure. 

This is the golden seated statue of Yakuyoke (Protector from Evil Spirits) Amida Buddha. It was supposedly commissioned by Yoritoma Minamoto on his 42nd birthday to ward off bad fortune. Fun fact, according to Japanese Shintoism, there are "ages of troubles" (Yakudoshi).... ages 24, 42, and 61 are bad years for men, and 19, 33, and 37 for women.

This is the Kannon statue. To quote their website: “Although Kannon is usually described in English as the “Buddhist Goddess of Mercy,” strictly speaking it is neither masculine nor feminine. Kannon is Avalokitsevara Bodhisattva -- a Bodhisattva is a future Buddha, destined for enlightenment, who has vowed to save all sentient beings -- and represents compassion, mercy and love." 

There was also a really cool little cave called the Benten-kutsu Cave. It has the goddess Benzaiten and her 16 children chiseled out of the rock walls. She is a sea goddess and the only female among the Seven Lucky Gods of Japan. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to take the photos so I refrained, but here is an image from their website.



On to the best part -- the Great Buddha (Diabutsu)! To prove I was really there, here's a photo with me in it. Thank goodness I'm wearing red or you wouldn't be able to tell I'm in the photo, ha.

For 20 yen you could go inside the Buddha, so I did just that... nothing really interesting to report, ha. Essentially, the Great Buddha is another statue of the Amitabha Buddha, built around the 13th century. It originally had a hall built around it, but that was destroyed repeatedly until they finally gave up (around the 15th century). I think this is my first recognizable Japanese monument! Hooray! Below is another guardian.

And that's it for Kamakura!