Adventure 1

Kamakura 6/8/08

I had one mission as I set out for Kamakura (a capital of Japan during the age of the Shogun, rife with history and natural beauty): to see Ajisai dera, a temple that grows an abundance of the ajisai flower (hydrangea). I was told that the flower was particularly beautiful and blooms in the month of June.

The day began with an hour of fiery prayer and meditation and large bowl of rice mixed with natto (a "healthy" fermented bean) and three scrambled eggs. The loneliness of the previous day had left and I headed down the hill to Oppama Station. Seeing all the people and stepping outside the Matty's bubble brought excitement, but quickly turned to distress when I took the wrong train and headed north to Kamiooka. In Kamiooka I was relieved to find a train that had my intended destination posted on its side. This brought a long and peaceful ride of reading, before I changed railway lines and headed to Kamakura.

At the information desk in Kamakura I met a kind smiling woman with light eyes and strong English. She gave me a map, circled Ajisai dera and taught me how to get there. I headed on a train filled with tourists to the destination and arrived at the temple. Oh how glorious is His Face! The temple sat atop a 150 step staircase filled on both sides with multiple colors of ajisai. The garden's vibrant colors, various ages and sizes, as well as sharp change when the clouds altered the sunlight hit me with a dreamlike clarity that I had not experienced since leaving Bhutan. In awe, I walked through the staircase three times. I do not know how much time I spent.

At one point I watched an epic battle between two ants. One was about a centimeter long and the other, a tiny ten milimeter ant, was hanging for its life on its torso. I watched the big ant curl up into a ball, try with all his might to peel it off with his legs, until he finally tucked down hard enough and took the little one's life with a bite from his jaws. It stuck lifeless to his chest and he began to pry the lifeless body off with his legs. The large ant was so focused on this task that it was completley oblivious to the massive human head that was six inches infront of him.

After I came down, I walked down the hill toward Hasa dera, a temple built on the eyebrow of a tall hill that overlooked the city. There were two ponds with coy fish, orchids floating on square rafts and a waterfall fed through bamboo reeds. I passed a set of small buildings as I climbed and reached a hillside ajisai garden and views of the Kamakura beachfront.

Then I took a hike aimlessly through the wild hills up and down multiple seemingly ancient staircases. After some time, I found my way to Zeniaraibenzaiten Shrine. There I read a post that said the shrine was founded by a man who had a dream in the year of the snake, in the snake month and on the snake day that there was a spring in the mountains that would bring healing. Once found, the spring became the major attraction at the Zeniaraibenzaiten Shrine. To get to this shrine one must go through a tunnel through the mountain and under a set of wooden gateways. Within there were springs, shrine buildings, a cave that houses hanging origami sculptures of thousands of small paper cranes connected back to back, and a few sets of young Japanese couples.

After I wandered through thin streets and village shrines, Iarrived at Kamakura Station. On the way back, I stopped in the town of Zushi and hiked to its west-facing beach over Sagami Bay. I have heard that Mt. Fuji can be seen from the beach on a clear day and believe that it will be an ideal sunset spot when the humidity dies down. I then caught the train to Oppama and headed home.