We thought it would be nice to get out of the city another day, so my husband researched places to go and a friend of mine also suggested Kamakura.  

The train/subway system here is amazing, but just when I think we figured it out, the ticket machine glows red and someone tells us we have to add fare to our ticket.  A lot of people use a card in their Apple wallet that looks fairly easy to do, but my husband does not have an Apple phone and didn’t think we would be traveling enough to use it.  I would look into it, it seems a lot easier than what we did. We bought a ticket going to Kamakura, but we also needed an extra ticket.  I have no idea how we were supposed to know that and that explains the train system perfectly. 

We managed to catch the train with reserved seats, which I appreciated because it was about an hour ride on a regular train.  We arrived at the station and had to take another train to see the Big Buddha. We had to buy another ticket to do that.  There were a million people in the train station, so much for getting away from a crush of people like the city!  

You had to walk about five minutes through the town to get to the Buddha. The sidewalks are very narrow and only fit two people max.  There are all kinds of shops and restaurants that you pass.  The site is called Kotoku-in Temple. You pay a few hundred yen to enter and instead of a ticket they give you a bookmark with all kinds of information about when the Buddha was built.  

It is known as the seated Buddha, Amida Nyorai, it started construction in 1252 and continued for about ten years. They have a few names of craftsman and the name of the priest who gathered donations to build it, but they do not know the original designer or many details about its construction. 

There was also a hall built in the temple area, but it was destroyed twice by strong winds in the 1300s.  It was not rebuilt after the 15th century. There are lovely gardens around the Buddha, a few shops, and restrooms.  You can also go inside the Buddha for 50 yen. 

The inside is not terribly exciting, but it was still neat to check it out.  There is a very narrow staircase that people are going up and down at the same time.  There is a small area to walk around.  It looked like there used to be benches to sit down on, but that area is now blocked off.  

The Buddha itself is 13.4 meters high including the pedestal and weighs 121 tons.  It’s really mesmerizing.  Although the eyes are lidded, you kind of feel like they follow you as you walk around.  There is a place to donate coins and to place incense (if you see smoke in the pictures, that is why). 

They also have his shoes on display.  At almost every temple or shrine there are places to buy amulets and good luck pouches for all kinds of reasons.  They are usually about 800 yen.  We saw a good luck amulet with a tiny golden Buddha on it for 250 so we bought a couple. You can never have too much good luck!

We walked down the street to visit the Hasedara shrine.  You also have to pay 400 yen to enter.  It is a cool shrine because there are three different levels.  When you enter there are some beautiful ponds with giant koi swimming in them. 

You climb up to the next level and there are all these tiny statues.  I thought maybe it was to honor someone who has passed on, but when I researched it, they are called Thousand Jizo. They are a Buddhist deity that protect children or give prosperity to one’s descendants.  You can pour water over them and it is believed that it will purify your mind. 

On the third level are the major shrines and a small museum that you have to pay an extra 300 yen to enter.  There is also a nice view of the ocean. If you want a picture like mine, you have to go all the way over by the ocean view to take it. 

In one of the shrines they store all the scriptures.  These canisters can be rolled all around the shrine.  If you do that it’s like you recited all the scriptures aloud and therefore receive the same “virtue”.  The big one in the middle can also be done, but only on the 18th of each month. 

There were some shrines that you could take pictures of and even enter to pray. This golden shrine was one of them. It has Japan’s largest mokugyo, which is a wooden block that they sound while chanting. 

The major shrine had a statue that was magnificent.  It was the diety/goddes Kannon. She was carved 1300 years ago.  The legend it that there were two statues carved from the same tree. This one was thrown into the ocean to help save people and washed ashore and placed in this shrine. She is one of the tallest wooden Buddhist statues in Japan at 9.1 meters and she has eleven heads. I wish that I could have taken a picture of it.  I also really wanted to ring this gong.  

There was an area off to the side where you could enter a cave.  Of course I had to go inside! Apparently this is where a Buddhist saint was said to practice in seclusion. 

Benzaiten and her followers of Sixteen Children were carved out of the rock walls. You can write a wish and leave it with any one of them. 

The passageway got smaller and I had to duck in order to walk through.  

We came upon a side room with all these tiny statues. They are actually offerings from people. It was really cool. 

Outside there was yet another shrine and this Buddha (Sawari Daikoku) was being rubbed by every person who walked by for good luck. 

On the way back to the train station we saw an advertisement for strawberry and milk ice cream that you made yourself.  We had to try it.  It was delicious. The strawberry was very strong and tasted like it had freeze dried strawberries inside.  The milk was not vanilla flavored.  It was really just milk ice cream.  

We took the train back to Kamakura. The streets were filled with people.  I felt like I was at a rock concert. We found a place to eat called Fantastic Burger and I was happy to discover that it was on a side street with no one around.  We were able to sit at a table and eat.  It’s one of the only places I have seen a grilled chicken sandwich (teriyaki).  My husband said his burger was one of the best he has had in a long time.  My chicken was also very tasty. 

We walked around looking for other goodies to eat.  My husband tried another ice cream, but I didn’t like it.  I thought it tasted like whipped cream.  The cone was a crepe, which broke in half when I tried to grab it from him.  He also tried some fried dough with sugar and a strawberry soda.  I saw this chocolate tart and really wanted to try it.  The middle was like lava cake.  I would definitely recommend it.  

We bought a few gifts and headed back to the station to go back to Tokyo.  As we were waiting for the train, I said to my husband, this looks like it goes all the way to Tokyo, why are we getting off early?  He checked google maps and found he had a setting wrong.  We just stayed on the train, which was rough because it was standing room only for about half an hour.  

Even though it was our last night in Tokyo before heading to Kyoto, we stayed in and rested.