Kamakura is my favorite place in Japan. Maybe it’s partly because it was the first place I visited, after that first week in Omiya, or maybe it’s just because it’s an awesome awesome place that feels right to me. I returned yesterday for my second visit, and I loved it as much as the first time.Got some lunch (curry rice) to start and then went to Hachiman-gu, the most popular shrine in Kamakura (there are 19 Shinto shrines in Kamakura and 65 Buddhist temples). Crazy crowded, but very pretty. I was glad to get to see the whole shrine; the first time I was there, we only had time to peer at it from a distance.
Walked to Yamanouchi (also called Kita-Kamakura) after the shrine. There are five high-ranked Zen temples around Kamakura (I want to visit them all!), and three of them are in Kita-Kamakura. We went to Kencho-ji, which is the first-ranked of the five and is the oldest Zen training monastery in Japan. It was really fantastic! So beautiful and so old! So much greenery and so many flowers! So peaceful! It was lovely.Got mango ice cream on the way to Kita-Kamakura station and then...
(To be continued.)
(The first three pics are from Kencho-ji, and the others are from Hachiman-gu.)
Besides seeing the beautiful temples, etc., I am enjoying the people you have also captured in your pictures. They are very interesting too!! And, what a cute little squirrel.
ReplyDelete