Searching in Kamakura--part 1

3/12-3/13

Saijo-->Tokyo-->Kamakura
(Saijo is "A" Kamakura is "B", near Yokohama on the map)

Rode the bus overnight (as you can see it's quite a hike, basically half of Japan here!) and arrived at Tokyo's Shinagawa station. With my free day in Tokyo, I decided to do some out-of-town-trip sleuthing and see what all the fuss was about down near Yokohama at Kamakura and check out its famous outdoor 'Big Buddha.' Little did I know, I not only had the Great Buddha in store for me, but also a scavenger hunt for the 7 Japanese deities, amazing sweet potato ice cream, decent Kamakura cider and an eyeful of windsurfing and waves!

So, headed out from Tokyo in the morning and arrived mid morning in kamakura, had some trouble finding the train from the station.. til i realized, it wasnt a train, but a streetcar! (i LOVE streetcars!) so, hopped on board when I finally found it, and got treated to amazing views of Enoshima, a nearby island that I'll be visiting next time, and the great waves being kicked up by the wind. Most amusing part of the streetcar ride? A ride on a streetcar down a one way street lined with old-towne style shops. Definitely charming!
Disembarked near the Great Buddha, at Hase. Snapped a pic of this map, and then checked an article I had found online describing a 'Treasure Hunt for the 7 Lucky Gods of Japan in Kamakura.' Well, mention the words 'lucky' 'treasure' and 'Japan' in one sentence, and I get pretty excited. So, I double checked the map for the locations of all the temples/shrines to go visit my deity friends, and then off I went to the first place on the list: Hase-dera.
First, at Hase-dera, was a view around the splendid grounds, which go from a slight valley to a hill with a great view of hase and kamakura, then on to visit lucky God #1, Daikokuten, god of wealth and grains--even got a stamp saying 'you were here!' hooray! Then, on to the interesting caves devoted to the goddess Benzaiten (or Benten, as immortalized as Bloody Benten in Tarantino's Sukiyaki Western Django.) It was creepy, and water kept dripping on to me, but very surreal and, I'm gonna go out on a limb here--in a sense, metaphorically 'womb'-like. Pretty cool stuff! There was even an elevated enclosed room where you could copy a sutra dedicated to her. I didn't have the guts (or the time, in my defense!) for that though, so next it was off to right down the street, visiting a little, out of the way, a small shrine called Goryo shrine, dedicated to a hero immortablized in Kabuki plays, and containing the second of my 7 scavenger hunt deity images, the image of Fukurokuju, god of wealth and Siamese-twin god of the god of longevity, one of the final gods I would encounter that day. Originally from China, Fukurokuji seemed more than happy when I found him habitating a small enclosed space off from the main shrine buildings and near the side entrance I had come in from, standing jovially on a blanket of nothingness on a hanging scroll in the middle of a room decorated with various memorabilia of his and the 7 lucky gods. I was surprised not to find a statue, but a scroll! Compared to Daikokuten's painted wooden nearly 5 foot statue, it was quite the discovery! Then, on to the highlight of any trip to Kamakura.. just a 10 minute walk up the road was the world famous 'Daibutsu', the great outdoor budda of Japan (the biggest outdoor bronze Buddha.) How he wound up outside is a whole different story, but first, entering the 'temple grounds' of the Daibutsu...
...and enjoying a lovely cone of sweet potato ice cream (it was purple! and way more delicious than it sounds cuz it was pumped full of sugar! yay!) Then, entering through the gate into the...stone courtyard of the outdoor Great Buddha! The story it, back in the day he was an indoor Buddha, then after a fire burnt down the building, then it was rebuilt and, you know, a few years later, a tsunami knocked it down--well, they figured maybe the Buddha was just happier being out in the elements. And so he remains today! And doesn't look too much the worse for it, I must say. It definitely lends him an air of distinction, I believe. Well next it was on to the path that would lead me atop a ridge of hills and down through a forest to the northern end of Kamakura, and the rest of the shrines/temples in my lucky deities scavenger hunt! First, up on the Kamakura hiking path, that runs between the Big Outdoor Buddha and Jochi-ji temple, in northern part of town. On the way, I would run through a nice small park for resting and a shrine where you can multiply your money! But not before getting lost twice--once on the way to the path (an older lady smiled and kindly pointed out the entrance to the path for me) and again when the path split between an uphill hike and a smooth path (I was tempted to take the smooth, non-uphill path--only an explosion of 20 hikers exiting the uphill path and making a beeline towards me convinced me I should probably go wherever THEY were coming from...after they all breezed past me of course!)
So from there it was a lovely, though at times daunting, mostly uphill climb (for a girl from a place below sea level, hills are mountains to me) through lovely woods and bamboo forests. The view back down to the village and the sea was also incredible. I ran into a few fellow hikers along the way, including a few older couples, and even a family collecting cedar chips as mulch for their garden, which I thought was very clever and eco-friendly. Then, I stopped and had a bit of my picnic at the park before following the signs down to the Zeni-Arai shrine, literally 'Cash (money) Washing shrine', where I lit the required candles and washed a couple hundred bucks (the legend is that any money you was will double, as long as you let it air dry) most people were washing tens and twenties, but you know--the more the better, in my case! I run through money! I was even adopted by two nice Japanese ladies who showed me what to do (despite it being the first time there for one of them, who was even more clueless than me!) Then it was back out of the cave and into the sunlight, where I climbed the steep uphill trek back through the park and along the next half of the trail towards the temple...

(to the right is the sign above the cave for the money washing shrine...)