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Spring is slowly sliding into summer
here. The mornings are nice and cool, but as the day
wears on you can feel a faint trace of humidity. It
won't be too much longer and the rainy season makes
its annual 6-week visit.
Not that I mind the rainy season so
much. Not at all. The breaks between wet days make for
some spectacular photos.
The only thing I don't like about
the rainy season is that at the end of it the humidity
of summer will be in full force.
Saturday morning I hopped one of the
first trains to Kamakura. I arrived at just after 6
a.m. and the first thing I dod was buy my return ticket.
(I already learned the hard way just how packed
that place can get later in the day during golden week
and didn't want to spend 15-20 minutes standing in line
to buy a ticket)
I wanted to get there early since
Golden Week just kicked off and I knew that as the day
wore on the place was going to become pretty crowded.
Also, nothing beats early morning light and having Tsurugaoka
Hachimangu nearly to yourself.
AFter covering Hachimangu I walked
over to Kencho-Ji. The place had just opened and I was
the first person to buy a ticket. Because of this they
didn't have any change for the 500 yen coin I had. (Admission
is 300 yen) I told the priestess that I could just pay
500 yen instead of 300. But she must have liked my new
haircut because she just gave me a smile and slipped
me a brochure along with my 500 yen.
(My new haircut is a whole new story
in and of itself. I'll be sure to fill you all in during
a future entry)
Kencho-ji is the highest ranked of
the five great Zen temples of Kamakura, and is the oldest
Zen training monastery in Japan. Completed in the year
1253, it originally was comprised of seven main buildings
and 49 subtemples. Many of these buildings were destroyed
by fire during the 14th and 15th centuries. The seven
main buildings remain, but only 10 of the original 49
subtemples are left.
One point interest is "Bonsho"
or "Temple Bell". This huge bell, cast in
1255 has been designated a National Treasure go the
government of Japan.
A second, somewhat less serious point
of interest is "Sanmon" or "Main Gate"
which has since taken on the name "Tanuki Mon"
(Tanuki Gate) after the story about a grateful badger
that transformed himself into a monk to assist with
its construction. (How mush sake did those guys used
to drink?....)
If you want all the gory details about
the pace, just check out this link: Everything
you ever wanted to know about Kencho-ji but were afraid
to ask.
If you have not seen it, I would highly
recommend a visit to Kencho-ji. Especially if you just
had a new haircut since this seems to really cut down
on the price of admission.
It is a large complex that completely
occupies a small valley. This sheltered location makes
it very quiet and the walls of green on wither side
mean you don't have any overhead power lines marring
the horizon.
The gardens on the Kencho-ji ground
were in full bloom and I ended up taking a lot of pictures
of flowers and insects. I'll be sure to go back again
to focus more on the buildings.
By around 10 a.m. the place had started
to fill up with Golden Week tourists, so I decided to
call it a day (morning?) and head home.
As I was getting ready to leave I
stopped in front of one of the subtemples. Fishing around
in my pocket for a few seconds, I finally found what
I was looking for. A shiny new 500 yen coin which I
then dropped into the collection box.
What comes around goes around... ^_^
Nothing wrong with keeping your Karma
in balance.
--
Last week I received the first DVD
in the "24" TV series through Netflix. I'm
into my third episode and I do have to say, it is quite
a good show. (And not having to sit through commercials
makes it all that much better!)
Comment 26
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