Longstoned

Kamakura 5 The Daibutsu 15/04/2013

After visiting the trio of Temples in the leafy relaxed area around Kita-Kamakura Station I headed off across the hills taking the Daibutsu hiking trail. I had read about this walk in my guide book but was a little apprehensive about heading into the hills alone while not speaking any real Japanese. Luckily as the trail ends at the most popular tourist destination in Kamakura it was well marked with bi-lingual signs. The final destination, The Daibutsu or Great Buddha was a must see for me as I had seen it appear in three Ozu films. Clearly Ozu enjoyed Kamakura as a location using the Daibutsu as a place to visit for his films characters be they gangsters, families or single ladies looking for a husband. In addition to being an Ozu location it is also a great historic monument the construction of which started in 1252 .

It is a great survivor in a country prone to earthquakes . According to the tourist notes on the back of the ticket, attempts had been made after it's construction to put a building around the statue but the buildings didn't fare well being destroyed several times and the Buddha has remained outside since the 14th century .

As always please click photos once and a second time to enlarge and see more detail.

The hiking trail signpost

hand cleansing seems to be the tradition at both Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines in Japan

The statue is very popular to visit and is set in an attractive open plan garden

there were some nice leafy corners of the garden too

Sakura or other blossom in bloom was always very popular

It was possible to climb inside the statue for a few yen to see the amazing techniques used to build it you can see from the rear view that it's hollow and made from metal ( Copper I believe )

Labels: architecture, Botany, Japan, Japanese Movies, Ozu, Photography

Kamakura 2 Engakuji Temple 15/04/2013

The temples around Kita-Kamakura station are located in wooded hillsides and make for a very green and peaceful visit. The nearest Temple to the station happens to be quite large and sprawling, climbing up the side of a hill, Engakuji Temple is also the place where Ozu is buried. I found the grave yard but had neglected to bring the explanation of how to find his grave. I didn't feel it was particularly respectful to wander at random as there were no other people in that area even though the main temple was busy with tourists. Kamakura is a very popular tourist destination and the Temples are famous which has in some ways caused a little commercialism for example all temples charged entry fees ( the first time I had encountered this in Japan ) in addition I noticed some fake bullfrog calling piped in (via hidden speakers near the ponds) presumably to add atmosphere.

It was a wonderful sunny spring day and the gardens were lush and green creating some lovely shadow and light effects.

The entrance steps just to the side of the railway

The amazing wooden main temple gate, please click the picture twice to see the carpentry detail

The complex stretched way up into the hill

A selection of beautiful gardens and temple buildings, all pictures are clickable to enlarge

The grave yard where Ozu san is laid to rest

The temple bell

Labels: architecture, Botany, Japan, Japanese Movies, Ozu, Photography

Kamakura part 1 Kita-kamakura Station

For anyone familiar with the films of Yasujiro Ozu, of which I am a huge admirer, then a visit to Kamakura is essential.

Railways and stations feature in almost all Ozu films and the little station at Kita-Kamakura is one of them . It was the perfect place to start my visit with three popular temples close by (one of which contains Ozu's grave) and the start of the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) hiking trail leaving from across the tracks.

Sixty years or so have passed since Ozu filmed here and the station sign he used as a pillow shot has been replaced with a modern one but not much else has changed around the station it seems.

Labels: architecture, Japan, Japanese Movies, Ozu, Photography

Tokyo Station, an amazing building and Ozu location.

The original building at Tokyo Station was opened in 1914, it was badly damaged by bombing in World War Two but repaired just one year after the war. This restoration was meant to be temporary but lasted until 2007 when a five year full restoration was begun to return the main red brick frontage to it's 1914 state. It was finally re-opened in October 2012.

The station appeared in at least a couple of Ozu movies which makes it of extra interest to me. It's also the main terminal for Shinkansen running both North and South plus one of the main stops on the Narita Express running in from the airport. It was inevitable that I would get to know it quite well.

Behind the brick wall lies a hidden city that seems to descend deep into the earth and contains more shops and restaurants than most small English towns.

When I visited in 2009 much of the station was boarded up and restoration was in full flow

In 2013 it looks rather splendid, as always any photo can be clicked once and then a second time to see more detail.

An interesting extra fact (given I visited Ishinomaki and Onagawa in Miyagi prefecture to see their recovery from the 2011 Tsunami) is that the roof slates used for this restoration originate from the Ishinomaki region close to Onagawa. The slates were being prepared before the earthquake and were initially thought lost in the Tsunami but many were found undamaged under the rubble and were cleaned by the quarry workers so they could still be used.

You can read the full story here

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201210070011

I chose a hotel in Tokyo close to the station as I was doing so much travelling and my room looked down onto the tracks entering the platforms. I could also see the roof illuminated at night from my window. Click on the photo below a couple of times to see if you can spot it .

A daylight picture to help

The Narita Express trains to and from the main Narita Airport stop deep in the bowels of Tokyo Station where they seemed to join two trains together mid journey.

Labels: architecture, Japan, Japanese Movies, Miyagi, Photography, Tokyo, Tokyo Station

Photos ... a short explanation

Hi
mostly I'm just going to post photos here and no words .
All pictures can be clicked to enlarge . If you click once it will re-size to fit your browser , once it has done that please click it a second time to view at it's true resolution.
The older pictures were taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC - TZ6 compact camera and more recent ones were mainly taken on a Panasonic DMC - GF1 micro 4/3rds micro system camera.
Almost without exception the pictures are j-pegs exactly as they came out of the camera as I don't have time to process them in any way .
thanks
Mike

Labels: Austria, Cotswolds, Food, Household objects, Japan, Japanese Movies, New Zealand, Orchids