Our first trip - Kamakura

We made it back from our first trip off base to visit the city of Kurakama. The trip was filled with firsts for us - first time being off base, first time riding on the Japanese railway, first time to a Shinto Shrine, to eating at a Japanese restaurant and to finding our way back to the base on our own. We experienced and learned so much that I will have to break the trip down into several posts. This first post is about the Shinto Shrine we visited in Kamakura.

Macie and I on the steps of
the Hachiman Shrine.

Macie and Mona.

The Hachiman shrine.

Our guide for the tour of the Shrine and
of Kamakura.

Macie is guiding me through the
steps to purify myself before entering
the shrine. I had to use a lot of water.

A candied grape.

Traditional celebration for 3 and 7 year old girls
and 3 and 5 year old boys. Both girls and boys
wear kiminos.

Our guide is telling us about the
first Shogun - a samurai named
Minamoto Yoritomo. 

The 12.4 million number is the number of
visitors to the shrine each year. The 2.5
million is the of number to visit the shrine
 in the first 3 days each new year.. 

Our guide explaining that the shrine was
built by the first Shogun who moved the
capital of Japan to Kamakura.

Your are not supposed to walk on
the center sidewalk - it is reserved
for the gods. Note how many are
walking on it - she said that even
a lot of Japanese are unaware of this.

A gate like the one pictured above wil be seen
before every shrine in Japan. The presence of a gate is how you can tell the difference between a Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple.

Notice who is carrying the flag. And
I was hoping not to stand out.