Kamakura-Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine

On April 1st we had our first visit to beautiful Kamakura.  We have since been back 2 more times and I will post later about those visits.  Pat, Gary, Bill, and myself along with Bill's co-worker, Takako headed out early for our 1 hour train ride to Kamakura (south and west of Tokyo).  Kamakura was founded in 1192 and was the capital of Japan until 1333.  The area was badly damaged by the Kanto Earthquake of 1923, but was spared during World War II.  There are many temples and shrines in the Kamakura area.  On this visit, we limited it to the most popular.  A short 10 minute walk from the train station led us to Kamakura's most famous shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu.  We reached the shrine via a long approach with multiple torii gates.  This approach is lined with cherry trees which unfortunately were not blooming yet.  As we approached the shrine, we were excited to see a Japanese couple were having wedding pictures taken.

 

 Before entering a shrine area, you should cleanse yourself.  Pat, Gary and Takako are at the purification font called Temizuya.  The ritual order for cleansing is listed below.

1.Go to Temizuya before worshiping at a shrine.
2.Take the ladle in the right hand,scoop water and pour over the left hand.
3.Transfer the ladle to the left hand and cleanse the right.
4.Transfer the ladle once more to the right hand,and pour water into the cupped left hand:Use this water to rinse the mouth.
5.Wash the left hand once more.
6.Return the ladle to its original position.

There are many stairs that lead to the shrine.

While at the shrine, I decided one more time to try my luck on a fortune.  I have tried twice before and got the most horrific fortunes-plague, fire, illness, etc.  I knew I couldn't get any worse.  I fork over my 100 yen and this time...yea!  Good fortune.  This will be my last purchase of a fortune in Japan.

As we were walking around the shrine, we heard music.  We discovered a "mini concert" with the musicians playing...a leaf! It was quite an interesting sound.  I asked what kind of leaf it was, but it was lost in translation.

Japanese lady playing music using only a leaf.

Here's a couple of additional photos by a pond at the shrine.  The white ribbons are just the names of donors.

Note the doves in the tree

One final photo at the shrine area.  Love the trunk of this cedar tree!

Next stop:  The Great Buddha