Tokyo: Side Trips
Kamakura
An easy day trip from Tokyo, Kamakura is less than an hour from Shibuya Station by commuter train. Kamakura has two hiking trails and a beach, as it's on the Pacific coast, but the big draw here is the Daibutsu the big bronze Buddha statue on the grounds of the Kotokuin Temple. Cast in 1252, it's more than 13 meters, or 43 feet high, making it the second-largest in Japan (next to the one in Nara, the ancient capital south of Kyoto) and the largest one that sits outdoors the wooden temple structure that once housed having been destroyed in a tsunami about 500 years ago. The temple (open daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., or 5:30 p.m. in winter) is near the Hase Station on the local Enoden line; take a JR train from Tokyo to Kamakura Station and transfer, or get off at Kita-Kamakura and take the hiking trail.
Also worth visiting: Hase-dera, a temple known for its many Jizo statues. There are thousands of them clustered around, on ledges and along stone paths and stairways. The Jizo, a Japanese form of bodhisattva, is believed to be the guardian of children and is usually depicted as a Buddhist monk, so we're talking herds of little bald men, some wearing crocheted hats and capes to help keep them warm. Hase-dera is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (4:30 p.m. in winter).
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1. Kotokuin Temple and the Great Buddha
4-2-28 Hase, Kamakura-shi, Kanagawa-ken, Kamakura, Japan; 80-(04)-6722-0703 35.316831139.535689 - 2. Hase-dera Temple
3-11-2 Hase, Kamakura-shi, Kanagawa-ken, Kamakura, Japan; 81-(04)-6722-6300 35.316831139.535689
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