Kamakura, unexpected colors and celebrations!

K A M A K U R A…I love saying that word.  K-A-M-A-K-U-R-A is about an hour southwest of Tokyo.  I had never heard about K A M A K U R A until this past spring.  Hydrangeas – my favorite flowers for how perfectly symmetrical they are…round bunches of pretty – anyway, they bloom in June during rainy season and apparently K A M A K U R A (ok, ok! I will stop typing it like that, I will just call it K from now on) is the place to go to see these pretty things bloom.  With nothing but wedding plans in my head June came and went and I never made it to Kamakura.   Then, fall came – my favorite season – and again I was told Kamakura was the place to go to see fall foliage.  I had already missed my favorite flower; I wasn’t about to miss my favorite season!

I did a little research about K, decided what sights I wanted to visit, told Trey to get dressed (hahaha!) and we headed out to the train station.  We took the 1-hour ride to Kamakura; we got off the train and stopped at the info desk just to make sure we were heading in the right direction.  The lady behind the desk pointed to a large "torii" (if you read the last entry you know a "torii" marks the entrance to a shrine:o)) framing the beginning of a narrow street and said: “you can start there, it is the main shopping street and it will lead you to blah, blah, blah” – I lost her after shopping.  Did she say shopping?!?!?  All of a sudden I forgot about the gorgeous brown, golden, deep red, orange colors I had travelled an hour to see.  We had to start with the “shopping street” surely we were bound to bump into some tress.  Well…not so much! 

We walked the quaint narrow street, looked in the shops, bought some knick-knacks when all of a sudden we were at the entrance of a shrine.  A shrine surrounded by trees, trees and more trees – all of which were the healthiest and shiniest shade of green and had every leaf still attached – WHAT?!?!?!?!  It was November 18, I mean we are 2 months into fall…do these tress not know it is time to turn colors and lose the leaves?  I was disappointed but just for a second because….

From the green trees we looked down to see, not fall colors, but the most colorful display of Japanese cuteness!  Every little girl at this shrine – and there were many! – was wearing a tiny kimono with the brightest colors contrasting beautifully with their dark hair.  Small boys were wearing traditional Japanese ensemble as well.  Unbeknownst to use we had just stumbled upon Shichigosan.  Shichi means 7, Go means 5 and San means 3; 7-5-3.  Odd numbers are considered lucky numbers and so every year in mid November girls age 3 & 7 and boys age 3 & 5 are celebrated, they get dressed up and taken to the shrine.  In the shrine, parents give thanks for their children and their health and pray for their protection.  I love festivals, rituals and traditions and this one will be without a doubt one of the most memorable ones.  Just look at those pictures!!!

As if Shichigosan wasn’t enough, after taking all the colors and harassing every 3, 5 & 7 year old in the shrine for some photos, we stumble upon another unexpected sight…a wedding…A Japanese wedding!  It was my lucky day!  Gorgeous bride dressed in a gorgeous and perfectly white traditional wedding gown.

We caught the end of the ceremony which meant we were able to see them walk out to the open area of the shrine where I stalked them to take their pictures…well…I had to show you!

After so many celebrations, beautiful colors and excitement we were hungry people!  We just picked a random noodle place…Lunch was interesting - a foreigner from the table next to ours was surveying every table to se what they were having.  The problem was she didn’t speak Japanese and aside from Trey and I EVERYONE in the place was Japanese!  For the love of God lady! Order some noodles and let everyone else eat in peace!!  Just pick a picture you like on the menu, point at it and make the #1 with your index finger and then bow your head in gratitude.  Ay ay ay!

Once our bellies were full and happy, we headed to the Great Buddha of Kamakura (Kamakura Daibutsu in Japanese).  They were not kidding when they named it “Great” it measures 13.35 meters/43 ½ feet high. 

It has a loooooonngggg history and something really interesting about it.  It was cast in the year 1252, that was…hmmm….760 years ago!!! And here is the interesting part; when it was first built it actually sat inside a temple not out in the open space like it is today.  But the temple’s buildings were destroyed after a typhoon and a tidal wave in the 14^th and 15^th centuries and the mighty Buddha has been sitting there without shelter (and survived mind you) since 1495.  Stuff like that just blows my mind away…how some buildings, paintings, etc can stand the test of time.  I always find it fun to picture what the area or city looked like that many years ago, in this case I pictured lovely ladies dressed in Kimonos, holding parasols and strolling down narrow streets – all in black and white of course.  Soooo cool!!!

K was an unexpected surprise with so many colors and joyful celebrations…Kimonos are just awesomely pretty but when you shrink them to the size of a 3 year old what you get is just pure adorable-ness!!!  K A M A K U R A…quaint and charming town and for sure I will NOT miss the hydrangeas next June should I be lucky enough to still be here in Japan!

Tell me about your travels…what places have you been to?  Where would you like to go?  What kind of traveler are you?  History, food, culture, shopping…what interests you?

To see more colorful pictures from Kamakura, click here.  Follow me here for more from Japan and a little bit of everything else!!!

Next:  Bonenkai, year-end party!  Until then…go out and explore a new place!

Mad