Scenes from our trip to Kamakura March 25, 2002

Kamakura was the capital of Japan before Kyoto--from about the 12th to 14th century.  It is full of beautiful and historic buildings and, being only an hour from Tokyo by train, a popular tourist site.  There are more than 100 temples in the area, as well as a wide area of shops and meticulously kept private residences.  We took a private train line to the Daibutsu and Hase Kannon area.  Then we walked back to the JR station and returned to Tokyo.  A fun and educational day. The incredible thing about this visit is the common-place feeling there was about incredibly old things.  People here think nothing nothing of items a thousand years old!  What would be considered "prehistoric" in the States is simply "old" here.  The Daibutsu was built in 1252; the Hase Kannon is a similar age.  They have wonderfully preserved all these things as "Cultural Treasures" and we and our children are lucky they have.

This map of Kamakura shows the major temples and attractions.  With over 100, it's impossible to show them all.  The view of the harbor is from the Hase Temple where the gold kannon is.

No pond in Japan is complete without koi.  These were fairly old and a couple of feet long.  At the emperor's palace, some in the moats were over a meter long!  Below, people burn lots of incense at the temples and in cemeteries.

Inside the Daibutsu, you can see how it was made of many pieces of metal welded together.  Amazingly it looks very similar to the Aomori Daibutsu built in the 1950s!   Above are the vents in the back of the Daibutsu.  Below right is the hole up the neck.  It's a huge statue--the ears are two meters long and the eyebrows 130 cm!

Marie found a lot of pretty rocks including one labeled "mo."  She also had fun feeding the squirrels.                             We rarely see                                 any wildlife in                                 Japan, so a few                               squirrels are a                                 real treat.

Sadly, all these little statues are to commemorate lost children--stillborn, miscarriages, or early deaths.

Train above, subway and bus below

Toys (kitties) on the left, beautiful camillias on the right.