Date & Time: Sunday, May 12, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Route: Kita-Kamakura Sta., Ennoji Temple, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Komachi Shopping & Dining Street,
The Great Buddha, Yuigamaha Beach, Cape Inamuragasaki, Enoshima Island (See the route map. It is a walk of about 12 km on mostly flat walkways.)
Visitor: Peter from Germany
Guide: Thomas, KSGG
Language: English
Peter arrived at Haneda Airport around 8 a.m. and met up with the guide at Kita-Kamakura Station at 11 a.m. after dropping off his baggage at a hotel. This was his second visit to Japan; he was going to present a paper at an International Robotics Conference. His first visit was for his honeymoon, during which the newlyweds went to Kyoto and Nara, ancient capital cities, and went mountain hiking in Nagano over two weeks. His parents are mountain hikers, and Peter also loves the outdoors. He lives with his family in a suburb surrounded by beautiful nature. Since he only had Sunday for sightseeing, he came straight to Kamakura to see its nature. Hopefully, walking would relieve his jetlag.
First, the guide took Peter to a small temple called Ennoji, skipping the larger temples of Engakuji and Kenchoji. In the hall of Ennoji, Peter saw a wooden statue of Datsueba, an old lady who strips off the clothes of the dead. The weight of the clothes is said to indicate the seriousness of the sins that the dead committed. He also saw statues of ten justices, including Enma-Daio, the king of the underworld and chief justice, who judges the sins of the dead. According to the guide, Enma-Daio corresponds to Hades in Greek mythology, which has some similarities to the Japanese one.
As he approached Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, which is one of the highlights of Kamakura sightseeing, he noticed an unfamiliar sound of Japanese-style music. He soon realized a traditional wedding ceremony was taking place in the middle of the approach to the shrine; the bride in white and the bridegroom in black traditional wedding clothes were surrounded by priests and shrine maidens on an altar. Peter paid attention to the offerings on the altar and learned that they were rice cakes and bottles of sake, both made from rice. He also noticed a number of sake barrels piled up at the side of the walkway. The Japanese deities seem to love sake so much.
After seeing the statue of Great Buddha, Peter encountered the blue ocean and the horizon. He stopped by a convenience store and bought onigiri, or rice balls, for his lunch. He picked up a beef onigiri among other choices like salmon, salmon roe, tuna, salted plum, and more. He also bought an ice monaka, or ice cream sandwich. Walking along the beach, he started to eat the onigiri and the ice cream. Suddenly, a black shadow appeared in the sky. He looked up to find a big bird circling around him. “Be careful with your food! It’s a tonbi (kite)! He is trying to snatch your food!” the guide shouted. Peter quickly swallowed the onigiri, but the bird assaulted him again and knocked the sweet out of his hand with its beak. In the Kamakura and Enoshima areas, many people get terrified and actually get hurt when a kite steals their food.
Peter went on the shoreline walkway from Yuigahama Beach through Cape Inamuragasaki and Shichirigahama Seaside to Enoshima Island. He spotted white yachts offshore and windsurfers near the beach. According to the guide, when the air is clear in the winter season, you can see greenish Enoshima Island, the blue ocean, and the white-capped Mt. Fuji all in one view. The beautiful landscape, along with the shrines and temples, has attracted numerous tourists to Kamakura-Enoshima for hundreds of years.
He walked up the hill on Enoshima Island to see the Pacific Ocean and then down to the Nishihama swimming beach to overlook the long shoreline of Sagami Bay. He noticed that it was already 5 p.m. and he had been walking for six hours without a break. When he goes to mountains, he often carries a rucksack weighing 80 kg. Walking along a gentle shoreline without luggage was nothing for him. He planned to go back to the hotel to take a shower and possibly go out for a beer. He was scheduled to go back home next Friday and take his family to a Mediterranean island for vacation. Peter is a busy and tough dad.
