Kamakura - Part 2

Today, Russ turned 38. To celebrate the day, we decided to make a return trip to Kamakura (see our mid-May posting for the first trip). We saw only a few of the attractions during the first visit, and since it is only about 30 minutes away, we took a quick return trip.

Our first stop was Zeniarai-Benten Shrine, dedicated to the goddess of good fortune (an auspicious place to visit on your birthday). The shrine is entered through a rock tunnel, then a series of torii gates.
At the back of the shrine, you are supposed to wash your money in a cave spring. Any money you wash is supposed to come back to you in duplicate or triplicate. The picture below shows Russ engaged in a bit of money laundering.


The rest of the shrine was quite lush, with lots of mossy rocks, a waterfall, and smaller shrines.


We then moved on to Kita-Kamakura, where we saw Engakuji Temple. It is one of the 5 main rinzai temples, a sect of Buddhism, and it was founded in 1282.

We entered and saw a heron in a koi pond....


and then, later, saw him again, perched on top of a temple building.


As we entered the temple, a monk was chanting. He stopped, asked us where we were from, and then talked to us about the Detroit Tigers for a bit.

At night, we went to a Brazilian restaurant for dinner and ran into a famous Brazilian soccer player who had played for the Japanese team.