Countries Of My Life: Kamakura: Round 2

Entrance of the 1st shrine

Today was again a day for many photos. Because I went with Oliver first into a shrine near his flat and afterwards we went to Kamakura. But let's start at the beginning:

The first shrine near his flat was unexpectedly big. The staircases to the shrine were really long and afterwards we saw that behind the shrine lied a big graveyard. It was Sunday midday and there were no people when we arrived. So we took our time to make photos of every detail in front of the shrine. Some of them are in this post.

We saw this kind of spider today
literally everywhere

Like I saw on other graveyards before, this one was built on a hill, so it was a bit cliffy when we literally climbed up to the top. But again, we had a good view over this place and the ones nearby. We also discovered that you can easily find big and colorful spiders. Okay, when you think about it, we were about the same longitude like the Mediterranean Sea, so it's no surprise you find much more insects and plants than in Germany ;)

On the way down, we met a monk. At first I thought he would say that we did something wrong and we cannot stay here or something like this. Damn prejudices oO He actually just asks from where we come from, because we looked literally like tourists. After a bit smalltalk, he just said that we can take our time. Another proof that Japanese people are really friendly.

Japan: Here wear even statues hats ;)

After visiting the shrine and taking dozens of new pictures, we went to Kamakura or better said North-Kamakura. Like I did before, we visited the famous Engaku-ji. Because we had a really sunny day, I felt like last time when I was here. And it was even better, because I knew this place in general, so I could focus more on the details than orientation like last time. And it was worthy ^^

Finally back again! :)

We visited the front temple area and also some places I didn't knew. Like the national treasure, a bell which seemed to have some sort of meaning besides the name. This is one of the times when I envy a bit the people who studied Japan. Of course, I could read about it but then are so many other things that would make much more fun ;)


National Treasure: The Bell of Engaku-Ji

For lunch, we went into a small but nice restaurant where we got Curry Rice. Did I ever mentioned that I love the Japanese Curry Rice? If not, here it is: カレーライスが大好きです！:D

The beach - Felt like summer ;)

The next station was the beach at Kamakura, so we took the train to the main city. Because we also wanted to visit Hase, a part of Kamakura with the famous Hase-Temple and the Big Buddha Statue, we went along the beach to it. After 20 minutes of watching at the ocean and collecting some big seashells, we were finally there. So first, we went to Hase-Dera (D(T)era = temple).

Didn't noticed this shape last time oO

And before someone asks a stupid question:
This is a symbol of luck and it's origin lies in Buddhism

Again I was impressed by the nature and all the details you can find here. I would really like to visit this in winter again when snow fells. Hope this will happen :)

Entrance to the Cave - even small for Japanese oO

This time I could even make photos in the little cave. Last time, we didn't had much time for this place, but this time was different. I also bought a little written oracle, like you see in the picture. Cannot be bad to have a little support from heaven ;)

Excellent Fortune - The best one you can draw :)
May Kami-sama with us all ^^

So after hours of taking photos and being impressed, we wanted to take a short break. To what better place could we go than an ice cream restaurant? But not just one, Nene-san, one of the employees at Axis Networks, told me that Kamakura is famous for it's Gelato Ice Cream that comes from Italy and is sold in one little restaurant between the Hase-Dera and the Big Buddha Statue. I hope we got the right one ;)

The (famous?) Ice Cream Restaurant

After recovering, we went into some shops and finally to the last station of today, the Big Buddha Statue. As you probably know, there is not much to say about this place. Just the Big Buddha and his shoes :D

Didn't changed that much, didn't it? ;)

Puhhh .. What a day! It really threw me back, because Kamakura was one of the first places I visited in Japan. But I also got so many new impressions. Definitely worth a third and a forth visit :)

Some more impressions: