Day 6 Part 1 - Kamakura (鎌倉) Syuu Genji Temple (収玄寺)

Today was our second day excursion out of Tokyo - this time south past Yokohama to the town of Kamakura (鎌倉). Kamakura is a historical town that at one stage was the fourth largest city in the world (circa 1200) and was considered a "de facto" capital of Japan during the reign of the Kamakura shogunate (although, according to Wikipedia, this is now disputed, but many of the guide books still mention it).

Getting there was a lot easier than getting to Nikko - there is a direct service from Shinjuku to Kamakura - the train was surprisingly crowded:

After that we took a local train on the Enoden line to go the the Hase station (長谷駅), which is the station closest to the Hasedera (長谷寺), which was one of the temples we planned to visit.

This is the local train arriving at Kamakura station:

Hase station is small and quaint:

Curiously, there is a Hawaiian themed cafe next to the station - demonstrating once again the love some Japanese seem to have for all things Hawaiian:

On the way to Hasedera, we stopped by at a small temple, the Syuu Genji Temple (収玄寺):

Although tiny (the "temple" in reality is basically a small cottage and garden) it was some interesting inscribed stone blocks:

A small altar:

And lots and lots of flowers, in very pretty colours:

After leaving the temple, we walked along the main street towards Hasedera - this is a photo of a woman cycling on the street:

Turning into a side street that leads to the Hasedera, we saw a shop selling kimonos:

And this looks like an eating establishment:

And this shop has some of its wares displayed on the footpath - these kind of stores are common in many Asian countries, and used to be very common in Japan in the 1950s and 1960s but are very rare in modern Japan:

Map of the area:

View Syuu Genji Temple in a larger map

Full album on Picasa:

[2008-04-15] Japan - Kamakura