Kamakura

Kamakura was the capital of Japan from 1185 to 1333, and was the fourth of Japan's capitals we've visited, the others being Tokyo (the current capital), Kyoto and Nara. When we arrived, we decided to hire bikes to help us to get around. At 1650 yen a day each, they cost more to hire than I would have been prepared to buy them for under other circumstances. Nevertheless, they proved to be a good investment, affording us great freedom in exploring the beautiful city, although the roads were generally not very cyclist friendly.

Below are some photo highlights of the dozen or so temples and shrines we visited over the day.

Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū would be the gaudiest shrine we've seen to date:

Egara Tenjinsha had a wonderful old ginko tree, the oldest in the city:

 

Hokokuji had an amazing garden that was stunning despite the early winter, which has rendered most gardens rather uninteresting:

The Big Bhudda in Kamakura is the second biggest in Japan (the biggest is in Nara), and weighs in at 110 tonnes of bronze. Like the one in Nara, it used to be housed in a building, but the building got swept away by a tsunami which left the statue standing. Later, the base was cracked by an earthquake, which also didn't damage the statue itself. It's pretty amazing that it's managed to remain standing for since 1252 in such a disaster prone country.

For an extra fee of 20 yen (about 24 cents), we were able to walk around inside the statue. It wasn't terribly exciting, but really, how much excitement can 20 yen buy?

Another bit of fun was this pedestrian crossing, which we used several times over the course of the day.