Kamakura

This Temple is in Kamakura, its called the Hasedera Temple. My three friends and I, Naomi, Yuko and Ayano hiked up a pretty big hill to get to the top, but once we got there we weren't disappointed with the view.





This is taken from someplace near the top of the mountain we were on. The temple (last image) is a bit below where we were when this picture was taken. The water and roof tops looked so tropical to me, sometimes I forget that Japan is an island! Its hard to think of it in those terms when you're living in the middle of Tokyo! All three of us just stood there mesmerized by the view. It was a hot, sunny day but in the forest is was cool.





These two shots are of the surrounding garden. Most large/popular temples have ridiculously manicured gardens around them, and this temple was no exception. They are absolutely beautiful, but a part of me doesn't really like them that much. They are so fake and man made. Even the ponds are made... It takes away from the effect I think. Maybe I just love natural Canadian forests



So this is clearly what made Kamakura so famous. This Buddha statue is absolutely massive. Its at the Kotokuin Temple, and this fella is called "the Great Buddha Daibutsu". It was crazy to think that this nation identifies with being Buddhist, but I have yet to meet a practicing Buddhist Japanese. They only practice Buddhist traditions around funerals here. Buddhism has lost a lot of its authority in Japan.

I think that's why I really liked visiting the Great Buddha. It was such a religious symbol of course, but it was also really historic. I liked how so many families, Japanese or otherwise, were visiting, eagerly snapping photos. I thought it brought people together nicely.



I could also go inside the Buddha itself. The statue is hollow, and the head was replaced not too long ago when an earthquake shook it off. The Buddha's head is so large for its body they have to make all these extra reinforcements from the inside to support the new one. It was pretty cool being inside; actually I should say that it was stifling hot. Since the sun was beating down on the statue, it absorbed all the heat and trapped it inside, when you touched the walls they were actually hot from the inside. I couldn't stay inside very long on account of a million other people and the heat. But it was pretty cool.