This article is based on a visit made on Tuesday, 15 November 2016.
Edit 3 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.
Previously on Sekai Ichi, I visited Kotoku-in, a temple in Kamakura famous for its giant bronze Buddha statue. Just down the road, there is yet another temple which attracted me, and its name is Hase-dera (長谷寺).
The temple halls are situated on the side of Mt. Kamakura, with beautiful gardens above and below. The grounds start at the bottom of the hill, where the main path is flanked by small ponds on either side.
Off on the right (north) side of this garden, there is a small sub-shrine honouring the goddess Benzaiten. Just beyond that, a torii gate marks the entrance to a cave, inside which are a number of shrines devoted to the same deity. Some of the chambers in this cave are so small, I had to crawl to get through them!
A short climb up from the lower gardens takes us to the main hall of the temple. This temple's main icon of worship is a gilded wooden statue of the Buddhist deity Kannon (観音), a.k.a. Avalokitesvara in Sanskrit. The statue is 9.8 metres (30 feet) tall, making it one of the tallest wooden statues in Japan. There is a legend that goes with this statue, too. In the 8th century, there was a Buddhist monk who found a camphor tree so large, he was able to carve two Kannon statues from it. He gave the first to (a different) Hase Temple near Nara, and cast the second one out to sea, in the hopes of it landing at a place with a karmic connection. Said place turned out to be near Kamakura, when it was found and a new Hase Temple was built to honour it. Photography of the statue is prohibited.
To the immediate left of the main hall is the Kannon Museum, a small gallery of Buddhist artifacts. Entry is not too expensive -- it costs the same amount you paid to get into the temple itself -- and descriptions for the displays are written in Japanese, but English translations are provided on a pamphlet you are given going in. I neglected to visit this museum, however.
Another small hall, further still to the left, is what's known as a
kyozo (経蔵,
kyōzō, lit. 'sutra storehouse'), or sutra archive, sutras being Hindu and Buddhist religious texts. Inside this hall is a large rotating bookshelf, called a
rinzo (輪蔵,
rinzō, lit. 'wheel storehouse'). It is believed that simply by rotating this rack once around, you will have received the same blessings as if you read through the whole sutras. The rinzo here is only available for the public to handle on certain days - it was locked when I came there - but there are multiple smaller prayer-wheels lining the room, which serve much the same purpose.
A pond shaped in the form of a manji, or swastika, symbol.
In an earlier article, I briefly touched upon the use of swastikas in Buddhism. One thing I forgot to mention is what the symbol actually means in this context. In East Asian traditions, the swastika, or "manji" in Japanese, include "all", "eternity", or "myriad" (literally 10,000). Buddhist scriptures also tend to start with this character, hence its association with Buddhist temples. Swastikas were also used in the crests of numerous Japanese clans during the Middle Ages.
There are plenty of secondary prayer points throughout the temple compound. Jizo-do, or Jizo hall, is a small temple building surrounded by hundreds of small Jizo statues. They are placed here by the parents of unborn children, as Jizo is meant to comfort the souls of those children. It is estimated that 50,000 such statues have been placed here since World War II; they are discarded after a year's time to make room for new ones.
I found another, quite larger, Jizo statue elsewhere, decorated with a red bib and a small rainbow of flowers.
There's even a small Shinto Inari shrine here, as well. Sometimes you don't need a whole forest of torii gates to create the Inari shrine experience; sometimes just one gate and a bunch of red banners will do nicely.
Behind the main hall, a trail winds up through the mountainside. It isn't long, but it is lined with a pretty variety of plants and flowers...
...a couple of statues to pray at, if you haven't already gotten your fill...
...and some sweeping views of the Sagami Bay.
There are similar views from the terrace in front of the main hall, too. So here's a panorama shot! Click
here for a larger picture.
There is a small bamboo grove here, too, next to the sutra archive and near the end of the path. Between
Hokoku-ji and this, I couldn't seem to get away from the stuff!
If green's not your thing, Hase-dera has plenty of trees whose leaves turn to red during the fall. Due to Kamakura's warmer coastal climate, its autumn colours peak in early December, later than in nearby Tokyo, leaving me too early to experience them in full force. A couple of trees had started to turn, however.
Hase-dera has colourful surprises in other seasons, too. In the months of June and July, there is a lovely array of blue, violet, and pink hydrangea flowers in bloom along the upper path. I may not be all too well-versed in the many species of flowers, but I think I've fallen in love with hydrangeas from just one look! Just be sure to expect some extra crowds during this time! Even more hydrangeas may be seen at Meigetsu-in and Tokei-ji temples, both near Kita-Kamakura Station.
Another recurring festival at Hase-dera takes place on the night of New Year's Day. Over five thousand candles are lit and arranged in circles on the ground, and prayers are made. In case
"a thousand points of light" aren't enough for you, this'll do nicely.
So that's all I have for Kamakura. Join me this weekend, when I share with you one last gasp of Tokyo before striking out further afield, next time on Sekai Ichi!
Hours: Open 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM from March through September; closes at 4:30 PM from October through February. No regular closing days.
Costs: ¥400. Entry to the Kannon Museum costs an additional ¥300.
Address: 3-11-2 Hase, Kamakura-shi, Kanagawa-ken 〒248-0016
Access: From Kamakura Station, take the Enoshima tram
(EN) line to Hase (EN12, 5 minutes, ¥200). Hase-dera is 4 minutes on foot from Hase Station.
Directions: From Hase Station, turn right onto the main road, and follow it uphill for about 2 minutes. Turn left at the next traffic light. The temple entrance will be straight ahead.
