The Wisdom Of A Buddha

During my last weekend, I went back down to Kamakura, where the big Buddha is. I’d had only one day weekends since Thailand because of shift swaps so, on my first proper weekend in a month, I wanted to get out of the city. Plus, there was one temple in particular I hadn’t yet seen.

Hasedera Temple is definitely on the tour of Kamakura if anyone visits. Built on the side of a hill, it is a revered temple, the 4th of the 33 holy places in the Kanto region of Japan.

At the bottom is a lake with massive goldfish. Oh Sushi and Sashimi.



At the next level is Jizo-dou hall, surrounded by small figures which represent the souls of aborted or stillborn children.




The principal image in Hasedera is the 11-headed Kanzeon Bosatsu, at 9.18 metres high. It has 11 heads above the main head, each has a different expression to show that the deity listens to all kinds of wishes from every type of person. Unfortunately, you can’t take photos so here’s one from the temple’s website (an ancient temple having a website is peculiar, no?!)



The coolest thing was the Kyozou (sutra archive) which has a central bookrack, where important Buddhist sutras (you can see them all in the pics) are kept. You can rotate it, and this is said to bring the same wisdom and merit as reading all of the sutras. Sounds like the easy option. I took it.





At the bottom of the temple was a cave, which was extremely low and dark. I was brave, but water kept dripping on me and I thought it was spiders so I didn’t stay long. It was a bit Indiana Jones-like because in the centre of the cave is a Buddha statue – I think if you pick it up: boulders, arrows, spikes…



I went back to Daibutsu because, well, it was a five minute walk and it’s truly amazing. Here’s a different angle of him, and these are his shoes – whoah!



Before heading home (short trip, but I felt better for it) I walked around Kamakura for a little bit. A woman approached me and asked where I was from. She had a camera so I thought she was making small-talk and then ask to take a picture for her and her 3 small children. But she asks me if I can pose in a picture. I’m sweaty and look a mess but said yes anyway. However, it wasn’t just one picture; I had to pose with each child in turn. And the father wanted it to be perfect; I had to crouch lower, or get closer… After the photos the mother wanted the children to practice their English, although they were much happier running around and throwing stones at each other. Then she continued to tell me all about them.

Most people in Tokyo have seen Gaijin and it isn’t so much of a strange sighting to them. However, this family were from rural Japan, and seeing a Westerner is a big deal to them. I thought it was funny that there were all these incredible temples, shrines and statues surrounding us but they wanted a photo of someone who ‘comes from the same country as David Beckham’.

Anyway, here’s a few more random pics from Hasedera - a "green and grey" theme: