Kamakura and Enoshima
I spent the day in the Kamakura and Enoshima area! We walked a lot and saw a lot… it was one of those days where things just don’t seem to go right. It was also one of those days where you’re just awesome at making mistakes haha! But that just made the trip more memorable and fun because there were a lot of laughs!
We met up at 7, got to Shinjuku station, and the train at the platform was actually our train but we thought it wasn’t so we didn’t get on it. We didn’t realize that it was our train till just after it left. So we waited for a bit for our next train. When we got to Kamakura, we headed to see the Daibutsu at Kotokuin first (200 yen entrance with an extra 20 yen fee to go into the Buddha).
Then we headed to Hasedera (300 yen entrance) which is really close to Kotokuin to see the largest wooden statue of Kannon in Japan (no pictures allowed of it!). There is a pretty little garden, scenic route, and this grotto/cave thing. We were really careful to look for no picture signs before taking pictures… but we didn’t notice this one sign and we took a picture of a statue D: I’m convinced our bad luck was from taking that picture because things took a turn for the worse afterwards (superstitious =P) and I’ve since deleted it o_o
View of Kamakura from the hiking/scenic route at Hasedera
We wanted to go to the Zeniarai Benten Shrine next where you can wash money (so that the amount will double! And get omamori because shinto priests will make sparks over it to increase its power!) so we walked back towards the Kamakura Station and read the map. We thought it would be best to train to Wadazuka Station to get to the Zeniarai Benten Shrine because it looked like it would be just a straight road and that it’d be closer… but no. It ended up being this huge detour and we had to walk up this steep slope to get to the shrine. It also started to rain D:
Kamakura Station - I love how it’s not modern looking!
Enoden Train
At Zeniarai Benten Shrine
Washing money!
The Shinto Priest making sparks over my omamori that I bought with some of the money I just washed! One for wealth and one for happiness :)
Can’t really see but this guy is leaving his washed money to dry on the bench. He washed a lot of money o_o I just washed all the coins I had. I did want to wash a 10,000 yen bill xD but I didn’t know how I would dry it!
We wanted to get back to Kamakura so we could go to our next stop. We followed some signs until there were no more signs… so we decided to go where everyone else was going. Wrong! We ended up walking up many many stairs to get to the Sasuke Inari Jinja Shrine, not to the station!
After asking for directions and finding Kamakura Station, we realized that if we had just read a sign, we would not have taken the train to Wadazuka Station in the first place, since Kamakura Station is so much closer to the shrine =0= And to top things off, at the station we thought (again!) that the train at the platform wasn’t our train… when it was so we waited for a while again for the next one x_x
We got to Ofuna Station tired and starving and bought combini bento and ate it at a bench near where we thought our bus stop was since we needed to take a bus to the Taya no Dookutsu. Turns out that wasn’t the right place. We went back to Ofuna Station and asked someone who told us to go to the east exit bus terminal. When we found the terminal, the bus driver said that that wasn’t our bus. So we went back to the station to ask someone else… no one to ask x_x so we went to a koban outside the station and the policeman told us to go to the west exit bus terminal to take the bus. We finally found it! For anyone who wants to go to Taya no Dookutsu, take the west exit at Ofuna Station, cross the bridge and cross the street and you should see bus stops there! Bus 71 or 72 I think it was.
It was a hassle but the Taya no Dookutsu (400 yen entry fee) was really worth it (no pictures allowed inside though D:)! Disciples fasted and meditated in the cavern for 21 days to try to reach enlightenment. You can see lots of engravings on the walls and ceilings. Trying to imagine those disciples in there is really mind-boggling. My friend and I were again really smart xD at the entrance we were given candles to use inside the cavern but we didn’t see the sticks to hold our candles on and were wondering how we would deal with the dripping wax. Luckily a family came in behind us and we just copied what they did xD
Entrance to the Taya no Dookutsu
The candle (on the candle stick!) we were given to help us see inside the dark cavern
We went back to Ofuna Station and thought that we’d go to this huge Kannon statue that we saw from the train. BUT we read the arrow on the sign wrong and missed the entrance =P After walking up a slope and realizing we were going nowhere, we went back and saw another sign that said that the entrance was right there =_= (do you see a pattern? we were full of fail today! haha) But it would cost us another 300 yen to go in and we’d have to walk up another slope and it was still raining so we decided to cheat and just take a picture of it from the station =P
Ofuna Kannon
Ofuna Kannon from the train - see how huge it is?
We took the train to Kita-Kamakura to see some other temples. After walking to the temples in the rain… we find out that we have to pay 300 yen to get into most of them… so I just took pictures of the entrances =P maybe another day when the weather’s nicer and we’re less exhausted from too many detours we’ll come back to see them!
Kenchoji - oldest zen temple in Kamakura and Japan! I got to see it from the distance and it looks really old! Would love to see it close up next time!
Engakuji
Tokeiji - I want to come back here!
We trudged back to the station and headed to Enoshima! Enoshima would have been so much better if it wasn’t so rainy… and if it wasn’t so dark x_x next time, I’ll try going earlier in the day!
Birdies have raincoats :D
Gloomy, grey Enoshima
Enoshima Shrine… more stairs
We didn’t get to see the famous Benzaiten statue or the lover’s bell. And we were just cold and soggy by then D: We somehow wandered off and kind of got lost x_x It was really dark by then so we followed some people down this route and finally got back to where we started!
Night View taken from the unknown route o_o
Luckily when we got back to where all the stores were, the ice cream place was still open! Murasaki-Imo (sweet potato) softcream! It was so good : D
It’s supposed to be a bit purple but you can’t really tell xD
We walked back in the heavy rain while eating ice cream xD I was so cold! I won’t be surprised if I catch a cold o_o Everything on the island was kind of expensive so we headed to First Kitchen again for some warm, comforting fast food for dinner before heading back home on the train.
I had hot cocoa to warm me up :D
It seems like we were stuck with some bad luck today but I still had a lot of fun! Maybe my happiness omamori is working already :D And the Kamakura Enoshima rail pass we bought was totally worth it! I definitely want to come back here… but maybe not for a while! My feet are hating me right now for making them do so much walking x_x
