For the first time in many years, we actually had a day post training that we could play tourist. Our choice was the city of Kamakura.
The city itself is about 36 miles from Tokyo, located on a bay (called Kamakura Bay). Originally a small fishing village, it became a farming community and administrative outpost. The change in the city came when Minamoto no Yoritomo made it the capital of his newly founded Shogunate; from 1185 to 1333 it served as the effective capital of Japan (while the Emperor remained in Kyoto) under the Minamoto rule and then Hojo Regency. In the Ashikaga Shougnate (1336-1573), the city held importance as a controlling center of the Kanto region but was at odds with the Ashikaga Shogun, who had moved to Kyoto. Retaken by force in 1485, it began to fade back to a fishing village after the establishment of the Tokugawa capital of Edo (Tokyo) in 1603. The city was further damaged by the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923, which killed over 2000 people.
As a result of all of this, Kamakura has a great many temples (it was the early seat of Nichiren Zen Buddhism). And being away (physically and geographically from Tokyo), it has a sort of funky small town feel.
Very nice to see someplace that's not Tokyo. Vending machines at the train station and utility poles so close to driving lanes TB, wonder how often they get hit?
ReplyDeleteA good selection of photos TB. It feels more everyday and less touristy, which is nice.
ReplyDeleteI know I have said it many times already but I still struggle to understand how it can be so clean when any urban center in my neck of the woods would have trash all around. It says a lot about their culture versus ours.
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