Tenen Hiking Trail

We had planned a trip to the base of Fuji, but things didn't work out during out trip.  It turned out to be a considerable distance away and navigating our way there would have proved quite challenging.  The mountain is closed during the summer because it is covered in snow.  We still wanted to see Japan's legendary mountain so we looked into some hikes closer by.  We settled on hiking the Tenen Trail just north of Kamakura.  It two short train rides away and provided breathtaking views of the Kanagawa Prefecture including Yokohoma, Tokyo and what we really wanted to see, Fuji.

Fuji was every bit as breathtaking as we imagined.  Even from over 50 miles away it dominated the skyline.  Mount Fujisan, as it is called there, is over 3700 meters high (>12,000 feet); the surrounding hills are maybe a third of that.  We first glimpsed Fuji from the top of the Kenchoji Temple Trail.  As we surveyed the skyline we saw only clouds, but Fuji's snow-capped top stuck out above these clouds.  Anything I think to type seems to minimize how magnificent it appeared.

As mentioned, we walked through a Kenchoji Temple to reach the Tenen Trail.  At the other end of the trail was the Zuisenji Temple.  The hike between temples was around 5 miles, but we had to hike a 1/2 mile from the Kita-Kamakura train station to Kenchoji and then another 1.5 miles from Zuisenji to the Kamakura train station.  I would absolutely do it again and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

Along the trail were many yagura, or Samuri graves.  Many have been looted over 100 years ago, but some preserved.  Often times families have gone back and reclaimed or taken over the empty tombs to use.  Here are some pictures from both temples and the trail.

Entrance hall at Kenchoji.

Painting on the main hall ceiling at Kenchoji.

Statues in main hall at Kenchoji.

Gold plated gate at Kenchoji.

Back side of gate.

Guardian on top of Kenchoji back trail overlooking the temple grounds.

Our first view of Fuji.

Panorama of Fuji (click to enlarge).

Trail head sign.

Fuji from the second lookout point.

Our brother-in-law, Mike, with Fuji in the background.
This is at a second lookout point above Kenchoji.

Us with Fuji in the background.

Checking out one of the shrines.

This sign let us know that our remaining hike would be more
down than up (this made Elise very happy).

Hidden Yagura Mike and I found off of the trail.

Some of the things people leave at the shrines.

A view from the trail down into the valley of Zuisenji Temple.

Close up from in Zuisenji temple.

The two of us in front of a Zuisenji shrine.

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu

After checking out big Buddha we took the train back to Kamakura to visit the region's most important Shinto shrine.  On our way to the shrine we walked through Kawaguchi Street, which is a large shopping avenue that is closed to cars.  Elise and I went back later to pick up some souvenirs there.

As for Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, I'm not sure how big the grounds actually were, but I would estimate three or four acres.  The grounds included the honden (main hall) as well as many smaller shrines, two large ponds, smaller ponds and a few gardens.  Leading up to the shrine is a large walkway that is lined with paper lanterns.  This walkway also has many torii gates (pictured below).  Torii gates are used to designate the approach or entrance of a Shinto shrine; since Shintoism is one of Japan's largest and oldest religions we saw many others across the Kanto region.

Walkway leading up to the shrine.

Torii gate at the end of the walkway looking onto the grounds.

This is a stage in the central courtyard area; these can be used for
performances but we didn't catch one.

The honden and haiden or the main and offering halls.

Visitors making prayers and offerings.

We got lucky and were present when they came out to hit the drum;
we have no idea what it was for.

This is an 'ema'  where visitors leave their wishes on the wooden plates.
A few were written in (poor) English and was usually stuff about school or success.

This is a collection of omikuji, which are fortune telling strips.

An omiji is drawn at random per individual; I just now learned about what this actually is so we did not partake (nor do I know if it would have been frowned upon for us to do so).  This strip is then tied to a tree to bring the good luck true or to avert the bad luck; maybe some of the ema strips were to cancel out the bad lucks.

A Komainu is a guardian of the shrine.  They are usually in pairs
and are dogs or lions.  This ones pair is across the walkway. 

Another purification trough (as I have now learned they are called).

As for use of purification troughs - one is to wash hands and mouth before approaching the main hall.  It seems that they were placed more frequently than just that, so the practice may hold for approaching any of the lesser halls that were on the grounds.

We were there in the late afternoon so I caught a shot of hawks
during the evening hunt.  The eight here are less than half of what we saw.

Lexie gazing across the pond and looking at the fish.

A shot of Elise and I on a bridge over one of the 'ponds'.

I still don't know what all of these banners are for, but the bridge is neat.

A couple of shots of the sun coming through the entrance torii.

n.b.: as always, the pictures can be expanded by clicking on them