Lucky Buddhas

Kamakura and Yokohama
JTB Tour 3
October 11, 2014

Visiting the Great Buddha of Kamakura, also known as the Outdoor Buddha

It was my friend Freda who recommended that I visit Kamakura. JTB USA's Sunrise Tours offered a full day tour of Kamakura, Yokohama, and Tokyo Bay. Aside from the Kamakura Daibutsu or Great Buddha, there was so much to see. We made stops at Hasedera Temple, Chinatown, and Sankeien Garden.

Here are some photo highlights from this tour:

Hasedera Temple - known as "the 4th station among 33 holy places in the Kanto area"

Sammon Main Gate is the main entrance to Hasedera Temple

Beautiful garden and pond inside the grounds of Hasedera Temple

There are several buddha shrines such as this one

Daikokuten, one of the seven Japanese gods of Fortune. He is considered the god of wealth.

I'm standing right next to the stone statue of "Happy" Jizo buddha, known to comfort the souls of unborn children.

And Alan gets close to the stone statue of another of the seven Japanese gods: Hotei, god of happiness, satisfaction, and abundance.

The Kyozo Sutra Archive or Library

Rotating bookracks or rinzo. By turning them, it is believed you can earn the same merit as reading all the Buddhist sutras.

Inside Benten-kutsu Cave with incredible sculptures carved on the rock walls.

Carved out of the stone walls is Benzaiten, another of the seven lucky gods, carrying a Japanese mandolin.

Kamakura Daibutsu - also called the Outdoor Buddha or Great Buddha of Kamakura

The Great Buddha of Kamakura

Story about the history of the Great Buddha statue and its dimensions.

For scale, I'm showing this photo with Alan standing next to the Great Buddha statue, which is almost 44 feet tall.

Here is the Great Buddha's back side...

...And here are his giant straw slippers.

While we were here, super typhoon Vongfong was all over the news but you'd never know with the beautiful weather we're enjoying. Just to be on the safe side, I bought an amulet to protect us from calamity. (wink!)

Yokohama - "the first harbor city introduced to the world as the entrance to Japan;" also known as the birthplace of Japan's modern culture

Yokohama Bay Bridge

It was here that we had a Chinese-style lunch at a high-floor of a building overlooking the harbor.

Yokohama Chinatown is one of the largest in Japan and in Asia.

Sankeien Garden - this expansive Japanese garden is approximately 43 acres and its construction took 20 years to complete.

A wedding was taking place and several of the entourage were wearing the most beautiful Kimonos and Japanese national costumes that I've ever seen.

She was gracious to let me take her photo. Isn't her kimono just beautiful?

Another photo of the lovely Japanese girl and her friends.

Japanese bride and groom wearing traditional costumes.

I was following this group of women most of whom were wearing the most beautiful kimonos I've ever seen.

The Three-Story Pagoda of Old Tomyoji

Admiring the beauty of the Sankeien Garden

A pond in the Sankeien Garden

This story continued from High Tech Ramen. This is part of a travel series about Japan.