A day with the Great Buddha

Filed under day trips, temples · about 5 min read

Kamakura is about an hour from Tokyo on the Yokosuka line, and it feels like a different country: wooden houses, surfers, hills covered in forest, and more temples per square kilometre than seems reasonable.

The Great Buddha

The bronze Amida Buddha at Kotoku-in has been sitting outside since a tsunami washed its hall away in the fifteenth century. It is bigger than photos suggest. For a small fee you can walk inside it, which is a strange and slightly hot experience.

Hase-dera

Ten minutes' walk away, terraced gardens climb a hillside above the town. From the top you can see the whole bay. There's a small cave with hundreds of tiny carved figures — duck your head.

Take the hiking trail between the temples. Bring water and real shoes.

Yuigahama at sunset

We finished on the beach, eating shirasu (tiny white fish) rice bowls from a stand and watching surfers until the light went. The train back was full of sleepy people with sand on their shoes.