08.00
Today,
the destination is Kamakura!
Someone
has never heard of this small coast town?...no?
Kamakura
is an hour by train from Tokyo. It’s famous for its friendly
atmosphere, for its zen temples and also for the National
Heritage
Museum
in
Kamakura.
…Let’s go!:)
10.30
Here
I am in Kamakura! Starts the tour…..
11.00
I
decided to visit the sanctuary
of
Tsurugaoka
Hachimangu!
It’s only 15 minutes walk from the east exit of Kamakura’s
station, the opening hours:
9:00-16:00, closed
on Mondays and
at
the end
of
each month,
admission is 100 yen.
Do
you like it?...it’s Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine
It
is the symbol
of
the old capital,
it
was
founded
by
Minamoto
Yoritoshi,
ancestor
of
the shogun
Minamoto
Yoritomo,
the founder of the
Kamakura
feudal
government
that
ruled
Japan
from
1192 to 1333.
15.00
As
a second
destination
for
today
I
decided to visit the Great Buddha,
or "Daibutsu"
but it
will
better for me to hurry
up
before
the temple of
Kotoku-in closes, because the opening
hours is 7:00 to 18:00
(17:30
from
October to
March).
17.00
After
the
travel by bus,
I'm
just
down
to Daibutsu-mae.
The admission
is
200
yen
and the supplement is
20
yen
to
access the interior
of
the Great
Buddha.
Let’s go!
SPECTACULAR!!.....
This is the statue of the Great
Buddha!!
It
is a giant
statue 11.4
meters
height
and
with a 122
tons
weight.It
represents the Buddha
in
the lotus position
in
the
sky AND it is made
of
bronze
plates
mounted
on
a
hollow structure,
which
allows
enterING
inside
the
monument!
…..
I
think
that's
enough
for
today, the day has been full of emotions!!
18.30
I am in the train that takes me back to Kamakura, in Tokyo and I am reading a book about the religions in Japan. I feel ignorant, after the day I spent in the temple, I realised that I don’t know anything about this topic!!
I am in the train that takes me back to Kamakura, in Tokyo and I am reading a book about the religions in Japan. I feel ignorant, after the day I spent in the temple, I realised that I don’t know anything about this topic!!
Which
would you say to be the most common religion in Japan?
It’s
the Shintoism that is based on cult of ancestors and nature, it’s
organized in about 200 sects.
In
the end of the 18 hundred, it became the official/state religion and
the figure of the imperator became sacred, every cities were obliged
to practice the cult of the Shinto temples. But thanks to the
Constitution of 1947, everyone could practice the religion that they
wanted and the imperator had renounced to be sacred.
The
second religion is the Buddhism, which is also organized in sects.
There is also a percentage of Christians, represented by Protestants,
Catholics and Greek-orthodox, but it is professed by less than 4% of
the population.
19.25
…..now
I leave you because I’m going to arrive at/in Tokyo!:)
My friend Elisa visited Tokyo last year. She told me that Kamakura is a very popular day trip from Tokyo for locals and for tourists too. She told me Kamakura is not just a historical city which has a lot of temples, shrines, and other historical buildings but there are also some popular beaches.
RispondiEliminaDid you see the beaches? And what about food? Did you try the local specialities?
I’m so curious! I really want to go to Japan!
Have a nice day!