Kamakura Leaf-Viewing Party!

“Activity information Life Chapel International (Kamakura photography society): Over the finder of the lens, let’s go to photograph the small miracle that God gave!! As for the scenery which I do not usually notice, I can feel attachment to the article which God designed by he stops, and observing it. I want to hold photography party this time under the theme of autumn Kamakura. By way of walk, do not you enjoy autumn Kamakura to the full? I wait for participation of all of you. Plan: 11am Ofuna to Imaizumifudou to Sangaike-park (lunch time!). 1pm Sangaike-park to Amazono-hiking course (Shishimai) to Zuisen-ji to Hachimangu. 4pm Kamakura (a coffee shop) to Kamakura JR line.” This flyer appeared on the white board at church two weeks ago and I immediately penciled it into my date book and emailed Chris on ship to tell him about it! He was as excited as I was—and today was a perfect, gorgeous day with very fun friends and the beauty of fall all around. All the above photos are of Sangaike-park, where we had lunch right on the lake. Then we hiked up and over to the Amazono-hiking course (Shishimai). We paused at the summit of Kamakura City; off to one side we could see Yokohama spreading out around Landmark Tower, and in the opposite direction Kamakura wrapped around Sagami-wan (bay). We’d been hiking up, up, up! Then we slid (sometimes literally) down the other side of the slope, where the late afternoon sun illuminated leaves in all shades of golden, scarlet, amber and chartreuse. It was like descending through pools of color! But the trail was slick in some parts and it was tricky to mind your feet with so much going on overhead. We ended up on some of Kamakura’s narrow, old-fashioned streets heading toward the above Kamakura-gu Shrine, which is important because the site once housed a captive prince under house arrest ordered by a backstabbing shogunate guy! Anywho, from there we saw the Grave of Minamato Yoritomo, who in 1185 defeated the Heiki clan and created the Kamakura Shogunate, thus establishing the foundations of the samurai system of government in Japan!! (so says the sign!) Chris was really excited about that. Then we passed through Tsurugaoka-Hachimangu, this temple I’ve been to several times but Chris saw for the first time today!That was on our way to Soba House, where we all ordered dessert of: mochi (rice balls), vanilla ice cream, anko (black bean paste), dates, apricots, jelly cubes (??) and kuromitsu (black honey). YUM! We had SO MUCH FUN with our very kind Japanese friends from our church, Life Chapel, which is exceedingly excellent. They taught us Japanese words, and we learned that Americans call this country Japan because the Japanese word for Japan, “Nippon,” in old-school Portuguese sounded like, “Japon” which in English sounds like Japan! What a fun day to get to know everyone better. 🙂 This also further solidifies Kamakura as my favorite place in Japan!