Kamakura is most famous for the 大仏 (Daibutsu), the great bronze statue of Buddha. It was originally inside a temple, but a tsunami washed the temple away leaving the statue.
You can go up inside, and the statue has windows to let air and light in.
Nearby is another Buddhist temple, 長谷寺 (Hase-dera), which has some spectacular giant gilded statues. Unfortunately they are all inside, and photography was forbidden, so no pictures of them here. But it also had some spectacularly beautiful gardens. Here's the entrance.
Some garden spots, including some great statuary and a fountain with Buddha's feet...
The peonies in the garden where amazing! Many of the flowers were as big as dinner plates. In Japan they frequently shade the peonies with umbrellas to protect them from the sun.
The temple also had a cemetery and a sad but impressive display of Jizou statues, which are placed by parents of miscarriages or stillborn children. According to Wikipedia, 50,000 statues have been placed here since WWII. Although at first glance they all appear to be the same except for their size, it's worth clicking on the close up to enlarge it...the slight variations in facial expression are interesting and cute.
Afterwards we went to dinner, and then came across this shop that had some great ice cream topped with honey-yuzu syrup. Some people left, but a few die-hards went to visit another famous shrine. Unfortunately it was dark so my pictures aren't great, but there was a really interesting side shrine to Inari that you got to by climbing stairs with dozens of torii gates.
All in all we climbed a lot of stairs that day! But it was worth it...it was a really great day.
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