Just south of Tokyo proper, wedged between Mount Fuji and the sea, lies Kanagawa prefecture. Once the seat of a medieval shogun, the prefecture now acts as a sort of extended suburb within the greater Tokyo area. You’re probably at least familiar with Kanagawa’s large port city Yokohama, where Commodore Matthew Perry’s black ships infamously landed in 1854 (and where the continued presence of the golden arches and foreign nationals make clear the fact that those ships never really left). You probably also know of Hokusai’s famous woodblock print “The Great Wave at Kanagawa,” arguably the most recognizable piece of Japanese artwork in the world.
Well, my old college buddy (I’ve never felt quite as old in my entire life as when I just typed out those three words) Matt is an ALT in Kanagawa, so a trip down there was always in the cards. Luckily, Kanagawa is also known for its many temples and shrines, so I’ll be talking about those instead of boring you with Matt’s and my reliving of our “crazy” days together in the EALC department (poor Ryan wasn’t quite so lucky).
Most of Kanagawa’s tourist traps can be found in Kamakura, the capital of Japan for two centuries during the Kamakura Shogunate. The city is said to be a “natural fortress,” nestled as it is in the mountains and many ancient structures from medieval times have survived to this day.
Perhaps the most famous of these is Kotokuin, the “Great Buddha of Kamakura”. Originally cast in bronze in the year 1252, this 121 ton statue of the
Amida Buddha became famous in 1498 when a tsunami swept away the temple that housed it-but left the statue unharmed. In the five centuries since then, the statue has stood outside where it has been exposed to the elements.
If you donate a few cents to the temple, you can actually go inside of the statue.
The interior of the Kotokuin statue.
Every Buddha needs a pair of sandals, even 44 foot tall, bronze ones.
Next stop: the Hasedera Temple complex. The complex, which sits on about 3 acres of land, is said to date back to the 8th century. In addition to housing a number of shrines and temples it also features a serene garden, a series of caves filled with statues and carvings and a scenic observation point. Hasedera also boasts Japan’s largest wooden statue of Kannon (the temple’s principal image), which, unfortunately, cannot be photographed.
Who says that no one ever stops to smell the flowers?
Yukiko, Matt’s girlfriend, had to tell him not to drink the purification water.
The Hasedera complex is full of jizo, statues that represent mizuko (aborted fetuses, lit. “water children”) and other children who died at a young age. Japan has a very long history of abortion and since the usage of oral contraceptives was only approved in 1999, the sculpting of jizo has become a lucrative practice for many temples. The temple's official phamplet states that the jizo "comfort the souls of unfortunate unborn children".
At the top of the hill sits the main temple complex, with temples devoted to Kannon and Amida as well as a museum that features some of the artifacts discovered at the temple site. 
Finally, we arrived at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu, allegedly the most important shrine in all of Kamakura. While it was originally built in 1063 near Yuigahama in honor of the Emperor Ojin, the first Kamakura shogun moved the temple to its present location in 1191 and dedicated it to Hachiman, the Shinto God of war. Man, what a stone-cold diss. Speaking of stone-cold, do you see that huge, dead-looking ginko tree on the left? In 1219, the third
Kamakura shogun was assassinated by his nephew, who was hiding behind that tree with a bow and arrow.
Here we see visitors praying inside the shrine.
While en route to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu, we were lucky enough to observe a traditional-style Japanese wedding taking place. I imagine that it was the groom’s idea to be married in the presence of the God of war and not the bride’s.
Kamakura contains such a wealth of temples and shrines that it would probably take a few days of sightseeing to really see it all. Unfortunately, we wore ourselves out just seeing the highlights. On our way back into Tokyo, Ryan had no problem blending in with the locals.
Perhaps the most famous of these is Kotokuin, the “Great Buddha of Kamakura”. Originally cast in bronze in the year 1252, this 121 ton statue of the Amida Buddha became famous in 1498 when a tsunami swept away the temple that housed it-but left the statue unharmed. In the five centuries since then, the statue has stood outside where it has been exposed to the elements.
If you donate a few cents to the temple, you can actually go inside of the statue.
The interior of the Kotokuin statue.
Every Buddha needs a pair of sandals, even 44 foot tall, bronze ones.
Yukiko, Matt’s girlfriend, had to tell him not to drink the purification water.
The Hasedera complex is full of jizo, statues that represent mizuko (aborted fetuses, lit. “water children”) and other children who died at a young age. 
Finally, we arrived at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu, allegedly the most important shrine in all of 
Here we see visitors praying inside the shrine.
While en route to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu, we were lucky enough to observe a traditional-style Japanese wedding taking place. I imagine that it was the groom’s idea to be married in the presence of the God of war and not the bride’s.
4 Comments:
LOL.. Ryan eating the magnolias, Ryan snoozing. What's up with that swastika? I know it means something else there.
Just too, too tragic that you couldn't photograph the wooden Kannon. Who's the guy stepping on the little dog all victorious?
Fascinating write and pics today... Will have to look again.
anonomom
the swastika is an ancient buddhist and hindu symbol that probably comes from sanskrit. the nazis simply co-opted the symbol because hitler believed that european arayans were descended from the early indian arayans who probably authored the symbol.
as for the dude stepping on the dog, i'm not sure exactly who he is but buddhist temples throughout east asia generally have statues of demon warriors outside that serve to protect the temple. i would imagine that he's one of those guys.
as for the hasedera kannon, here's a photo of it from the temple's official website. when you see it in person it's really shocking how tall it is.
you feel old? i turned 25 on the 29th. i'm ancient.
endless discussibility. Thank you for that wiki link to the swastika. I slept in the "Hilter bed" when I was little -- a Victorian monstrosity that had come out of one of my great grandparent's homes. I don't have any pictures of it and it is long gone now but I believe the symbol carved in the headboard was tilted -- even though my parents joked it was "Hitler's bed," they also told me it was an Indian symbol for the four winds. I thought they meant American Indian but at any rate, East Indian makes more sense because one of my great grandfathers was an engineer over there for many years and this lore may have come from him, even thought the bed didn't. Anyway, I don't remember ever noticing these in Japan. It's interesting to find out how ubiquitous they are!
I like your statue and picture of Kannon better, btw. Is that dead ginko a national treasure?
anonomom
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