Kamakura

In 1185, the warlord Minamoto no Yoritomo set up a bakufu (幕府), a military government, in Kamakura. Hills surround the town on three sides and the sea guards the fourth, so it was easy to defend. It also lay far from the emperor's court in Kyoto. This began the Kamakura period, when real power passed from the court nobles to the samurai. The Kamakura shogunate fell in 1333, and power moved elsewhere. But the temples and the warrior-era mood stayed. At the heart of the town stands Tsurugaoka Hachimangū. This great shrine honours the god of war, who also protected the Minamoto clan. A broad avenue leads from the shrine down to the sea.

Kamakura's most famous sight is the Daibutsu (大仏), the Great Buddha of Kōtoku-in. This bronze figure is over eleven metres tall, and craftsmen cast it in the 13th century. At first it sat inside a wooden hall. Storms and, most likely, a tsunami in 1498 destroyed the hall, and since then the Buddha has sat calmly in the open air. Kamakura was also a cradle of Japanese Zen. Its mountain temples, such as Kenchō-ji and Engaku-ji, still train monks today. Add the beaches, the temple steps lined with hydrangeas in early summer and the trails through the hills, and you can see why Kamakura is one of the most popular day trips from Tokyo.