Kamakura

On Saturday, June 24, we took a day trip south to Kamakura - home to the emperor from 1192 to 1333. It seemed like lots of Tokyo had made the exact same plans, so the city was swarming with people. (It took forever to get a picture of the big Buddha all by himself ... there are about ten people hiding behind the statue in front.) Kamakura's only about 45 minutes from Tokyo and is worth a visit - we'll probably go back someday on a weekday to avoid the hatch. First stop was to see the big Buddha. He's so big, you can climb up inside of his head for a small fee. He's been sitting in place since 1252 and seems very content to stay.

Next, we went to Hase temple, which is home to a statue of the bodhisattva Kan'non which supposedly washed ashore not far from Kamakura in the early 8th century. It's stashed away and off-limits somewhere on the grounds, but we did get to see these little statues. I believe each represents the soul of a stillborn child, and they're all clearly cared for.

Next, we accidentally queued ourselves into a (very long) line waiting to see the hydrangeas, which were in full bloom. The line was silly-long and snaked all the way up the hillside above the shrine. The flowers were nice, though, and worth the wait. Here's Lori on her way up the path, and some kimono-clad girls who were color-coordinated with the flowers.

Other pictures: (1) Lori sitting on the steps at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu shrine, which was established by the Genji family, founders of the Kamakura Shogunate; (2) Pete and bamboo; (3) one of many statues defending the hillside behind Kencho-ji, Kamakura's main Zen temple. The hike up to this sub-temple was steep and easy to defend: I believe it's where the priests would retreat to whenever the temple came under attack. There's a 10-mile hiking trail from this point that connects the temple with a series of sub-temples deep in the mountains surrounding the city.