Tokyo, Kamakura, 29.04.24
Quite early morning again. This time only the breadbasket for me plus butter and jam! For Christine pumpkin risotto! Out the door and back to Yamamote Line. Like locals by now. This time right into Shibuya Station. That is where the famous crossing is. We saw it from above while walking across a bridge to change trains. Crazy!
The destination today was Kamakura by the sea. It is also famous for the Buddha, the Great Daibatsu, Japan's second largest Buddha. We took a train to Fujisawa and from there the Enoden, a charming retro train trundling on narrow tracks through neighbourhoods almost touching houses or gardens. Every now and then we got glimpses of the sea not far away. It is one of the last tramways left in Tokyo established in 1900.
We got off the train at Hase, the closest station to the Buddha. A very busy street lead up to the site and temple and after paying an entrance fee we were sort of pushed and shoved further into the temple grounds. Just go with the flow! The buddha was right there high above the crowd and everybody was busy taking selfies. We had our picture taken as well.
A sign at the entrance read: 'Stranger, whosoever thou art and whatsoever by thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages. This is the Temple of Buddha and the gate of the eternal, and should therefore be entered with reverence'. There was not much reverence to be seen but the buddha just sat in deep meditation, unconcerned and undisturbed. I am sure that he winked at me and gently smiled and it occurred to me how absurd this tourism and sightseeing business was!
We strolled a little bit in the temple grounds to the side where hardly anybody was and found a moving memorial to J.R.Jayawardine, president of Sri Lanka, who at the peace conference of 1951 in San Francisco used in his speech a quote from Buddha: 'Hatred ceases not by hatred but by love'. He also urged the countries present to show forgiveness and love towards Japan and declared that Sri Lanka, (then Ceylon) renounced its right to demand reparation from Japan.
Kipling wrote a poem as well about the Buddha at Kamakura. Two verses will suffice:
Yet Brahmans rule Benares still,
Buddh-Gayas ruins pit the hill,
and beef-fed zealots threaten ill,
to Buddha and Kamakura.
A tourist-show, a legend told,
a rusting bulk of bronze and gold,
so much, and scarce so much, ye hold
the meaning of Kamakura?
By late afternoon we were back in Tokyo main station and walked to the huge Imperial palace grounds where the emperor has his residence. Most of it is not open to the public but we had an impression of size of the gardens and buildings. On the return we had a look at the Maronouchi commercial district which is very new and very modern. The pedestrian area is lined with luxury goods stores like Fendi and Gucci.
Maronouchi
Back home on Yamamote Line and funnily enough we missed to get out at Otsuku Station but luckily this line goes in a circle and we just stayed on finally getting home.
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