Kamakura and Enoshima
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2010
1
11
Trip End
Nov 06, 2010
Kamakura, Kanto, Japan
Monday, November 1, 2010
We stayed in a small ryokan further west along the coast, within walking distance of Enoshima Island. (OK, before you make any wise cracks, there's a bridge over to the island, so you can walk or even drive over there!) It turned out to be a good choice, as it was far enough away from the tourist center of Kamakura and a little way from Enoshima as well, which is a hugely popular beach resort for day-trippers from Tokyo. It was still pretty crowded with surfers and tourists even on a Monday in November; apparently you want to stay away on summer weekends – way too many people. We took an ancient (celebrating 100 years in service), somewhat rickety electric train that ran along the coast. It was fun! The Enoden Line ran right down the street in front of our ryokan.
This ryokan had a traditional Japanese bath, and since we were pretty much the only ones there, we could go in together (a rarity for males and females to bathe together), lock the door, and use it "family style". It was nothing fancy, but the nice hot water felt wonderful after a long hard day of sightseeing. Their pride and joy was their restaurant, which has been there since the '20s or ‘30s. We signed up for both breakfasts and dinners provided with the room – very reasonable, and delicious. Their specialty is what they translate as “raw, baby sardines” – you can see them in a small bowl in the middle of the huge spread in the picture below. They’re not my favorite – not much flavor, a little slimy, and a bit disconcerting to have all the little eyes staring at you, but we tried them. The rice with seaweed and boiled/dry baby sardines was actually pretty tasty. The other seafood was absolutely fantastic.
We visited several temples and shrines and enjoyed their beautiful gardens and elegant, ancient buildings. The photos below show some of my favorite scenes. The giant Buddha (completed in 1252) is a famous landmark in Kamakura; it’s not quite as large as the one in Nara, but quite impressive. There were a zillion school kids there too, which is always fun. The Kencho-ji temple is especially beautiful and peaceful. It’s the head temple of the Renzai sect of Zen Buddhism, first constructed in 1253, with fantastic knurled old juniper trees planted more than 700 years ago by the founder who brought the seeds from China.
One of the most interesting was a Shinto shrine where people come to wash their money – literally! There is a natural spring coming out of a steep canyon/cave wall. Supposedly if you wash your money (bills) in the spring and then spend it, it will come back to you two-fold. One man who was there seemed to take this very seriously and was washing a LOT of bills. It gives the term “money laundering” a whole new meaning.
Wednesday was a national holiday – Culture Day – which is big in places like Kyoto (just ask my sister and brother-in-law about the crowds in Kyoto) and Kamakura. In the morning we saw them fishing from shore using traditional nets and reeling them in by hand. A bunch of locals were getting into the act, aided by plenty of beer, picnic goodies, and party atmosphere. I think the crusty old fishermen running the show actually fish this way, but not typically at 10:00 AM. We then went to Hachiman-gu, the big, gaudy Shinto shrine at the center of Kamakura. We really lucked out, as it was a huge celebration, and all the parents had dressed their young children in traditional dress and brought them to the shrine for blessings and picture taking. We saw some beautiful outfits and really cute kids. It was a great way to finish off our Kamakura outing and this Japan trip.
