Back to the Roots: Kamakura

This day, I met with Nene-san, Tina-san and Ivy-san to show Kamakura to Niko. But even I, who went here for the at least 6th time, could see new sides of this place. The most important things at first, so we went to the 大仏 (Big Buddha) statue.

The Big Buddha Statue
somehow I always land here :D

Actually, this is my favorite place in Kamakura. I am always impressed how lively and yet calm this statue seems to be. I'd like to meditate in front of the Buddha, but that seems impossible with all the people around :D

And there is maybe no better place to go in June than to 長谷寺 (Hase-dera) which has an astonishing amount of different flowers and other plants. Especially 紫陽花 (ajisai), better known as hortensia, which had their prime time. Everytime I need practically hours in this temple, because I want to photograph all the beautiful things I see ;)

Not just here, but everywhere in Japan you can see this flower at this time.

Besides the flora are also many statues of monks. Sometimes more realistic, sometimes almost comic like ^^ They also come in various sizes, from the size of chess figures to manlike sizes. It's like the monks from ancient times didn't died, they just turned into stone and continue their prayer eternally in silence :)

Everytime I see them, they are so perfect ... Who cleans all them?

As I mentioned in posts before, religion is a big part of the Japanese culture, although many (maybe even the most) are atheists, so I was told. Actually, I think Japanese people believe in many spiritual things like ghosts and gods. But everyone has their own unique belief or better said, their own unique mix of beliefs.

Some are maybe believing in a world after death, some others maybe in the fox spirit, many people believe in the Christian marriage I suppose and another part of the society in all three things. For me, the fact that this difference in belief is so normal and accepted by the people in Japan, is one of the best things in Japan.

Please don't get me wrong, many other countries have this kind of acceptance too. For me, it just feels like in Japan this is more present. For example, when someone in Germany really (not just for the ceremony) believes in Christian marriage, most people would assume that this person is a Christian. The sheer idea that someone really believes in Christian marriage and Buddhism too, would be too confusing for many :D But hey, that's just what I experienced ^^

Maybe some day, I will understand the meaning of this bib
which many statues in all kinds of places wear.

Back to the topic, after the temple from before, we tried to get into another one. Actually I forgot the name, sorry for that :( As you may already guessed, we didn't go inside. In front of the temple was a really long queue and after walking a long way, we didn't want to wait so long. So we decided to go to the beach and to have some lunch there :)

The Beach of Kamakura

And what other delicious meal could it be than my beloved Ramen? :D
Come to think of it, I will really miss this taste. What should I do when I am out of Japan?... Well I hope there is an Asian food market nearby wherever I go ;) It won't be tasting as good as here because of the different atmosphere, but it's at least some sort of replacement ... okay, enough of this contemplative stuff ^^

ラーメンちゃん～～～ :D

Afterwards, we went to 江の島 (Enoshima) which is an offshore island near our location. Because of the amount of pictures that will follow, I will talk about this in the next post. And sorry for keeping you all to wait for so long, but you know ... stuff came up ;)

The rest of my better pictures from the trip in Kamakura:

Moment of Silence

Pond in Hase-dera

Man, I just can't get enough of the flowers in Japan.
Never looked out for flowers before ... did I developed this kind of affection here without noticing? ... oO

Don't ask me how he picked these flowers :D
I am just saying, I believe these statues are ancient monks ;)

First word which came into my mind: Banana :)

When I have enough money and a house, I build a garden like this ^^

More azaleas ... I always wondered why everytime
the flowers of the current season are blooming everywhere in Japan.
Does somebody change them overnight or all flowers always in one spot?