Kamakura

On Friday we went on a “spiritual orientation tour” with the chapel to Kamakura. This city is known for the great Buddha that you see in famous pictures of Japan. We first started our tour at the great Buddha (aka the Daibutsu) which is made out of bronze and was originally housed in a huge temple building. In 1368 a storm caused one of the beams to fall and scratch the face of the Buddha. Then in 1495 a tidal wave came into the valley and wiped away the temple, but the great Buddha remained in its place. 

Next on our tour we went to the Hase-Dera Temple. Temples are used to signify the dead where you will find statues representing the dead and graveyards. This temple had amazing gardens with ponds and a cave that you could go into that would bring out your beauty. 

                                     

After that we went to a shrine where life is celebrated. The Hachiman Shrine was built in 1063and we saw 2 couples going to the shrine to get married and even a baby dedication ending. There were so many visitors and it was at the end of a main avenue up on a hill. We did not go inside, but the outside was so pretty.

After we viewed the shrine, we walked around downtown Kamakura. We ate lunch at a Italian restaurant, souvenir shopped and ate some local ice cream. The ice cream shop we stopped at had sweet potato and green tea flavors, swirled together. So of course Matt tried it out. I thought it was a weird combination and tasted like baby food. But Matt liked it!