Great Adventure (and great walk) in Kamakura Japan
October 5, 2008 by Jeff
We started the day off by heading to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine. It's located right in the middle of Kamakura at the end of the main strip. It's a pretty cool shrine with a massive temple and lots of people all taking in the sights. It's quite neat watching people throw the money and bow their heads for a quick prayer. We ended up paying $2.00 to go into the 'museum' at the shrine. It'd advise against doing this as it seemed like a bit of a tourist trap. If you want to see an actual Japanese warrior armour, helmet and some authentic kimono's then it's worth it. Although, it is only $2.00.
The next shrine we ventured too was the Kenchoji shrine, approximately a 20-30 minute walk from the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. This was the best shrine 'complex' that we've visited. It's really neat because it's the grounds of a buddhist monastery too, so this is where they actually learn how to become monks. Neat stuff! The complex is really cool with some really massive buildings and great architecture. You are even able to take your shoes off and walk in a building.
At the Kenchoji Shrine we ventured up to the Hakono temple which is located at the back of the complex. Once you get to the near the back of the complex you venture up the side of the road (on the left). Follow this road until you hit a fork and stay straight (left gets you to a soccer field used for boys soccer). You'll then have to climb around 200 stairs (or something like that) and you'll get to the top. Once there you'll have amazing sweeping views of Kamakura and the beach. It's quite spectacular and pictures really can't do it justice! It was a pretty busy day at the Kenchoji shrine but at the viewpoint we were the only ones their for a little while.
From here we walked to the Jochiji shrine and headed for the walking trail to the great buddha (Daibutsu Hiking Course). You don't need to pay to get on the trail if you just stay to the left when going up the Jochiji shrine. Although, venturing to the shrine is probably nice too (we didn't for time sake).
The Great Buddha hiking trail is very nice. Lots of ups and downs, up roots, down roots, up and down through a forested area. It's 3 Km's and quite a nice adventure. The reward of the Kotokuin (Daibutsu) or Great Buddha at the end is really cool too! He is such an immense statue built back in the 13th century from Bronze. It's so massive that it's actually quite intimidating! Oh, and for 20 yen (20 cents) you can go inside the Buddha!
From here we walked back to our hotel along the beach stopping for dinner. The whole circuit took about 6-7 hours and is a nice day trip. Although, be warned that good walking shoes and some handy nutrition is needed throughout your day. Hindsight is 20-20! lol!
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Great post! Would love to travel there some time. Thanks for the link!
Thanks Jerry. I highly recommend Kamakura… Although, try to visit on a ‘non-weekend’ as it’ll be much less busy!
[...] this was a good hotel in Kamakura. We actually spent a bit of time as we were exhausted from our hike around Kamakura so it worked out nice to have a decent hotel room. I’d recommend for people to stay here but don’t [...]