(長谷寺, Hase-dera or Hase Temple)Today's post, however, is not about green witches or flying monkeys: it is about my trip to 鎌倉 (Kamakura) a couple weeks ago. Kamakura is about an hour south of Tokyo, next to the ocean. With a variety of attractions hundreds of years old, I really got the feeling of old, authentic Japan there, almost as much as I did in Kyoto. I guess it was far enough away from the city that it escaped the massive indiscriminate firebombing campaign the U.S. launched against Tokyo in WWII (just like Kyoto narrowly avoided being the first target for the nuclear bomb!) You can tell what part of Japanese history we're studying in class right now, I'm sure...
(地蔵, Jizo statues at Hase Temple)History aside, Kamakura was beautiful. I went along with several Georgetown friends (Ryan, Emery, Seamus, Alice) and our patron Ms. Miyake, who organizes such events for us from time to time. We all met up at 品川 (Shinagawa) Station, and took the long train ride down to Kamakura Station together. Kamakura has a very cute local railway called 江ノ電 (Enoden) which has been around for a hundred years or so. I wish they would update it and add some more trains though, because every time we got on it, it was even more crowded than your usual morning Chuo Line train. First stop: Hase Temple.
(The view from Hase-- that is the Pacific Ocean.)Inside Hase Temple is a giant statue of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy, with something like a dozen heads. The thing is gold-plated, at least five times as tall as a normal person, and looks very impressive, but unfortunately they told us we couldn't take any pictures inside. As I am learning though, the grounds of a temple are just as interesting as the building itself-- in this case, there were winding paths up and down the side of a mountain, with statues and geraniums all over the place:
The geraniums at Hase (which I, being something very much less than a botanist, originally mistook for chrysanthemums) seemed to be the main attraction for most people-- to the point that there were timed tickets to take a certain path that was literally surrounded by blooming geraniums on all sides. Cooling ourselves off with the complementary fans we got at the entrance, we slowly made our way among the flowers, then back to the Enoden. Next stop: 大仏 (Daibutsu).
This dude (the big metal one in the background, not the dopey gaijin in front) knows what's up. He's been around a while. 'You close me up inside a temple? That's okay, I'll just sit here and meditate a couple centuries. Giant tsunami blows up the temple and most of the village? I'm still sitting here, nothing wrong. Heck, even if the Great Kanto Earthquake happens tomorrow, I'm cool. They just built me a sliding base-- earth moves, I won't. Ain't nothing that can knock me down. I'm the Great Buddha, yo!'
Even if it is an overblown tourist attraction where everybody just goes to have their picture taken in front of the statue, I still think the Daibutsu itself is pretty cool, as I hope the previous paragraph shows. They let you go inside the hollow metal statue for 20 yen (though none of my pictures from that turned out very well.) Also, strange Japan story #274: Completely unknown man approaches our party, asks if we can take a picture. With him. Not Ms. Miyake, just the foreign kids. We reluctantly oblige, and have a group picture with him in front of the Daibutsu. He thanks us and leaves, no name, no contact information, no nothing. Why? "Hey look guys, I went to Kamakura and I met these awesome foreigners! I have a picture to prove it"...?
(Giant sandals for the Daibutsu, in case he decides to stretch his legs some millenia hence.)Last for the Daibutsu, here is a reproduction of a sign we noticed just outside the monastery compound where the statue sits:
KOTOKU-IN MONASTERY
KAMAKURA
STRANGER WHOSOEVER THOU ART and whatsoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary, remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages.
This is the Temple of Buddha and the gate of the Eternal, and should therefore be entered with reverence.
By Order of the Prior
Close by to the Daibutsu, there was a passage to the ocean. There is a length of beach along the coastline, but none of us had brought swim gear so unfortunately we couldn't take full advantage of it. There were whole squads of windsurfers out there though, and a number of surfboarders as well. Oh well. I already swam in the Pacific (admittedly a very different part of it) during my trip to El Salvador anyway.
Following our glimpse of the beach, there was nothing else particularly planned, but it was lunchtime so we figured we might as well all go together. After not being able to get in a number of places due to the crowds, we found a Korean restaurant that could seat us all at one table. I got ビビンバ冷麺 (bibinba reimen), which turned out to be noodles in a special spicy sauce that caused them to clump together stronger than crazy glue. At one point, when I was offering to share some and Seamus tried to take part of it, we repeatedly failed to pick up anything less than the entire lump of noodles at once. Noticing our plight, the waiter helpfully brought us a pair of scissors. That was the first and hopefully last time I have ever had to use scissors as a table utensil.
(江ノ島, Enoshima: Paradise for the Evil Overlord. Single footbridge access makes keeping your enemies out easy-- unless you plan to lure them to their doom.)After lunch, we separated and went in several directions. Emery, Seamus and I decided we wanted to go to Enoshima, an island just off the coast, since it seemed to have several interesting things ranging from temples to caves to an observatory/lighthouse tower. Little did we know, it would turn out to be the perfect location for an evil mastermind's headquarters (if anyone is considering that particular career path, follow the captions for more information.)
(Narrow, winding forest paths, good for ambushing pesky adventurers, terminate at ancient shrines guarded by fierce dragons.)Sort of following the one map we saw at the entrance to the island, we made our way through the crowds, up and down many stairs, and through a forest trail, finally ending up at a Shinto shrine apparently dedicated to dragons. In addition to the stone dragon pictured above and a few random relics, there was a "dragon bell" which lovers are supposed to ring to bring them good luck-- didn't look like anything special to us though. After a few more flights of stairs, we reached the end of the island and were at the caves.
(The natural cave network is perfect for hiding people or things, and the rock beach serves as a treacherous but scenic battle arena.)The caves turned out to be a bit ridiculous. I went inside expecting a series of natural caverns, maybe some stalactites/stalagmites and such. But, instead of that, we got glow-in-the-dark rocks, backlit Buddha statues, and even a very fake-looking neon dragon with thunder sound effects. We had candles to navigate with, but it was difficult to get through anyway, because the cave roof came down to half my height for some portions of the route. I'd still say it's worth the price of admission, but maybe they should note it's more along the lines of Chuck E. Cheese than Carlsbad Caverns.
(Ready-built tower: perfect for grandiose living space, evil genius experimentation, grand climactic duels, or all of the above.)Our next stop was the Lighthouse/Observatory at the top of the island. Whether this thing actually serves or ever did serve as a lighthouse is an entirely open question-- I forget now which side I was even advocating but Emery and I debated it off and on the whole day. On our way there was a street performer, so we stopped to watch his show a bit. I was expecting him to be a magician, but there was no such thing going on there-- still, some deft juggling and other tricks done to the latest J-Pop background music.
(Excellent view from the tower allows you to see your opponents from far off. Nearby city and beach provide ample opportunities for intimidation, theft, and hostage-taking.)From the top of the tower, you could see pretty much everything on the island and a good deal on the shore. This particular view looks toward Kamakura-- you can see the footbridge and the beach there, but not much else in any detail. At the very top of the tower, out in the open air, there were a few hawks hovering about-- I think if you look at the previous picture you can see a hawk to the upper left of the tower. The observatory was our last big attraction of the day, after which we made our way back off the island, took Enoden and then the train back to Tokyo... but before I finish, I could never forget the Mystery Soda Incident!
(Rigged drink machines will trick and confuse your adversaries, worsening morale and denying refreshment.)Okay, so I admit this particular Evil Mastermind caption is a bit of a stretch, but I couldn't not post this picture. In this machine, the two top right buttons correspond to something called "Mystery Soda." Emery was explaining that this was something delicious he had heard about before, so Seamus bought one-- but it turned out to be Skal, aka carbonated water mixed with milk. Like a true gambler, Emery decided he would try too, to see if he could get the drink he thought it was originally, only to receive another Skal. So the two of them stood there quite pathetically, having been duped into buying a drink they didn't want, but feeling obligated to drink it anyway. They did. It wasn't so bad.
(A dark, looming tower wrapped in spiral display screens and topped with metal wolf heads sets a menacing tone for your base of operations. All-powerful, world-ending technology/artifact not included. Ask about our 'Those Meddling Kids' insurance program today!)
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