Along the way, I saw a cute Winnie the Pooh tricycle parked right outside the Hasedera:
Continuing on the bear motif, here is the Teddy Bear Petit Hotel:
And this appears to be Chinese restaurant (the characters translate to Penglai Palace):
After a brief walk along the street, we finally reached Kotokuin - this is map of the temple grounds:
We passed through the Niou gate (仁王門) containing the two Deva King statues on each side:
We encountered some Japanese school girls on a school trip - the teacher is the one holding the flag:
People admiring the Great Buddha:
These is a closeup of one of the four bronze lotus leaf sculptures around the statue:
Here are the images of the Great Buddha from various angles. The bronze statue was originally gold plated, and you can still see bits of gold plating on the statue:
And these pictures are me standing in front of it:
The back of the statue features windows!
Yes it's true - the statue is hollow and it is possible to climb inside it:
View inside the statue:
This is the Kangetsu Hall - supposedly part of the Imperial Palace in Korea in the 15th century and then moved here - it contains a standing image of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva (Kannon Bosatsu):
This tablet contains a waka (31 syllable Japanese poem that reads 「かまくらやみほとけなれど釈迦牟尼は美男におわす夏木立かな」. It's by Yosano Akiko (与謝野晶子) and translates to:
Here in Kamakura
the sublime Buddha is of another world,
but how like a handsome man he seems
adorned with the green of summer.
Some stone lanterns around here:
And a group of women that look like air stewardesses:
Outside the Kotokuin is a shop selling Hello Kitty souvenirs:
And what appears to be "Happy & Lucky" dolls:
There's also a canal running through here:
And on our way to our next destination we encountered a workman repairing some overhead cables:
This is one of several road tunnels - this one runs underneath Sasuke - everywhere we went seem to be bumping into schoolgirls today:
Cute doll in a window:
Mozart restaurant:
Where are all the school boys then?
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