Kamakura: Enjoying Delicacies & Hachimangu

So happy to be back again, because I'm bringing you guys some of Kamakura's delicacies ;)

Scroll down, and drool at your own risk !

Big Buddha shaped Manju, 120 Yen each. There are two flavors; custard cream and bean jam. Oishikatta :> 

 Pumpkin cake (Kamakura Kabocha Kintsuba), 180 Yen/block. There are 7 variants of flavors, and we tried the original one, and it was so yummy! It's not difficult to find this pumpkin cake shop, because there are several shops located by the road sides of Kamakura. They are sold in quite small shops, so you better set your sight carefully to be able to find one. I found this shop on the way to Hasedera.

Finish with the snacks, now we headed to grab something yummy to satisfy our hungry tummy :>

We're in Komachi-dori now. We took train from Hase station to Kamakura station and walked about 5 minutes till we found this small restaurant that served various variants of oishii noodle and mouth watering desserts.

 Maru-chan's choice

My choice. Chilled green soba for the 37 degrees of Kamakura's heat. Good deal, no?

Mikako's choice 

 Matcha Kakigoori (Green tea shaved ice) served with azuki beans and... gosh, i forgot the names of those two cute chewy white balls, sorry!

and, we also ordered this one..

Gochisousamadeshita, they were all delicious ! xx

Now, let's proceed to Hachimangu :)

Looking radiantly stunning in vermillion, here it is the beautiful Hachimangu shrine or Tsurugaoka Hachimangu in complete. It is a shrine that was built to honor Hachiman, the Japanese syncretic God of Archery and War, resulted from the incorporating elements of both Shinto and Buddhism. Hachiman is regarded as the protector of Japan and the Japanese people. Therefore, Imperial house and Samurai worship him.

The shrine itself is located at the geographical and cutural center of the city of Kamakura. Founded by Yoritomo Minamoto (1147-1199) in 1180, Kamakura's Hachimangu shrine lies on an area of approximately 80,000 square meters. It is one of the three largest Hachimangu in Japan, drawing roughly 10 million visitors every year. 

We arrived at Hachimangu around 3 p.m, and starting from that day, August 6th until 9th, there would be Bonbori Matsuri, the festival of hand-drawn paper lanterns. Hundreds of the beautifully drawn paper lanterns were set up on the land along the entrance pathway of Hachimangu until the main shrine area.

The lanterns in Bonbori festival were submitted by various artist, novelists and famous people.

People were standing along the pathway, ready to watch the ceremony that would be held at the "Maiden" or ritual dance stage. But I'm so sorry that I can't give you the exact information about the ceremony that was held that day. But likely it was some kind of opening ceremony for Bonbori Matsuri.

It was my very first time to see such ceremony directly. I was totally mesmerized by all the stuffs used during the ceremony, the people who conducted it, the beautiful dancing, the music, the calming atmosphere when there were so many people there but nobody made a single noise. All we heard were just the instrumental sound and the priest's voice reading something while holding a sheet of paper-roll, kind of praying to the God that enthrones in the shrine. The ceremony itself was conducted by facing the main shrine.

Well, see you in the next post ! Wishing you all a happy summer holiday :> 

xx,

Shabrina

Kamakura: Big Buddha & Hasedera Temple

Thank God, I can finally embrace the relaxing atmosphere of summer holiday ! Yes, I've submitted my one last report to my dear lecturer just exactly before I started typing this post. Can't be relieve more :>

I went to Kamakura again, some days ago with my friends and finally, like promised you in the previous Kamakura Post (here), now I'm able to present the snaps of Big Buddha and many other things I saw during my Kamakura day tour. Hurry, hurry, scroll down people ! :D

 We bought Enoshima-Kamakura Freepass for 770 Yen, so that we can easily move here and there by train, within that charge, all day long. Despite how many times we had to take the train :)

Statue material: Bronze

Height: 12.38 meters

Weight: 120 tons

This bronze statue of Big Buddha, or in Japanese is called as "Daibutsu", is located in the Kotokuin Temple. From the very first time I saw it in quite a distance, I was so amazed by how gracefully proportional and calming to see it was. The attractive thing isn't only about the Bigh Buddha itself, but the scenery in its surroundings as well. The touch of spiritual appeal was spreading thoroughly in every corner of Kotokuin Temple.

Although I'm not a Buddhist but I enjoyed so much seeing Buddha statues even though I don't know what their poses mean. And the "sitting pose" of this bronze Big Buddha is one of my favorites. It's undeniably magnificent, isn't it? 

On the way to Hasedera, we visited an "Orgel (music box) specialty store". We just couldn't stand the temperature and humidity outside, so basically we entered the store just to chill ourselves out in an air-conditioned place, but then turned out that we were so deeply absorbed with the stuffs ! It was my very first time seeing such magnificent orgels. I was just thinking about getting myself one before getting back to my homeland next year ;)

They really have sooo many variants of orgels as well as the music. I'm so in love with this place !

Okay, now Hasedera.

Hasedera is the home for the magnificent statue of Hase Kannon, also well-known as the eleven-headed Kannon. The temple was built to honor the statue, which formerly was thrown into the sea near present-day Osaka with a prayer that it would reappear to save people. In the night of June 18, 736 it really reappeared, found ashore at Nagai Beach, not far from Kamakura. 

Hasedera Temple has been known as the 4th station among the 33 holy places in the Kanto area.

As we walked farther inside the temple, we found a small building called "Jizo-do Hall". Surrounding the hall, we saw thousands of little Jizo stone statues standing in long rows. The statues were arranged there in order to comfort the souls of unborn children.

The main temple is where the Hase Kannon statue is enshrined. All I could say that time was that, the statue of Hase Kannon was spiritually wondrous. No lie. Unfortunately, taking photos are prohibited inside.

Hasedera was a really impressive temple. Done with Hasedera's sightseeing, we headed to Hase station to catch a train. We went to a soba restaurant in Komachi-dori to satisfy our super hungry tummies as well as giving our feet a break after the nonstop walking.

I'll let you guys know what kind of Kamakura's delicacy that we tried in the next post, kay ! See ya :> 

xx,

Shabrina