Journeys for Knowledge

The past weekend I took a short trip to Tokyo to attend a friend’s wedding. However I had a spare day to explore, which I felt would best be served by a visit to Kamakura, a town close to the coast 1 hour south of Tokyo. The town is famous for being home to Daibutsu, one of the largest Buddha statues in the world. In reality Kamakura is a center for many spiritual practices, evidenced by the numerous temples and monasteries that are scattered throughout the hills surrounding the town.

Rather than just head straight for the main temple, I took a meandering path, discovering that many temples have back gates that lead into the hills, and connect to other temples. This allowed me to bypass much of the crowds, simply by walking through the woods from temple to temple. I never really knew what to expect around each bend, or over each hill, but in the end I only stopped walking because my shoes were wearing down. That was how entranced I was with the mystical nature of this town.