Hiking at Kamakura

Sat 2010/02/20 23:29 JST

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 begemotto

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On the January 1st we went to visit the shrines of Kamakura. There is a large number of shrines over there and of course it wouldn't be possible to see them all in one day so we decided that we'll just take any direction and see where it takes us to. To do that, we got off the train at Kita-Kamakura station and walked towards Jochiji Temple and further. The way to Kaizoji Temple turned out to be a hiking path but since NY days were blessed with good weather, it was rather enjoyable. At Kaizoji Temple we took time to have a bit rest, make a prayer for health of all our friends and buy a lucky arrow for my mom.
Trying to decide where to go next, we noticed a sign board showing direction to Daibutsu. It said "2 km, 60 min". I didn't look into the map otherwise we wouldn't go there... Guess what? It was another hiking path and of much higher complexity, it just went up and down all the time but when we realised that, it was already too late to turn back... We met quite a lot of people there and the locals usually said "Konnichiwa" and "Akemashite" and some of them helped us at a few really scary spots when you don't even know where to step, but the other tourists like us just passed by silent and were surprised when we greeted them. Overall it was fun but tiring and we felt a bit deceived when at the end we had to walk another 400 meters by the roadway to reach Daibutsu. But well, no one said the way to religion has to be easy :-)

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Momiji leaves at the entrace of Engakuji Temple. Seeing them glowing in the sunlight was a very happy moment

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Mom wanted to keep a couple of momiji leaves and put them in her passport. Now they already lost their bright orange colors but still remind of that day

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It's so unusual for us that you can see blooming flowers in mid-winter that I couldn't hold myself from taking pictures of all the flowers we went across and surely wouldn't miss this set of daffodils too :)))

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The horrible Daibutsu hiking path. It was just like this, up-down-up-down. Luckily there was no rain...

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Holy ensens smoke

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On the way to Kamakura station

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Surprisingly there were not many people in traditional clothes and this couple was too picturesque to miss the shot

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Nothing special, just the beginning of the railway. The frog seeing off the trains, there must definitely be some good meaning in that