Friday 28 December 2012

Early Winter Visit to Kamakura Taking the Odakyu Line


EMU Odakyu 60000 series (a cab with a gangway in the front) arrives at Fujisawa Sta. in the twilight

I visited Kamakura again for the first time in almost a year (see my blog on December 26th, 2011). I took the Odakyu Enoshima Line and got off at Fujisawa Station. Then, I headed to Kamakura on the lovely Enoden (Enoshima Electric Railway) train.

My destination was Tokeiji Temple in the northern Kamakura area. This temple was opened in 1285 as a nunnery. Specifically, in the Edo era (from about the 17th to 19th century), it functioned as the government's official refuge for women who were abused by their husbands. So, Tokeiji Temple is also known as "Enkiri-dera (divorce temple)". Since the Meiji era (1872), Tokeiji has been changed to a Zen Buddhist monastery. A lot of philosophers and business people have been studying there.

The garden of Tokeiji Temple was very calm and neat as a training place for Zen Buddhism. I saw a beautiful yellow carpet of fallen gingko leaves, which indicated the advent of winter in the Tokyo metropolitan area (see the following photo).

After my visit to Kamakura, I reached Fujisawa Station again at dusk. The shadows had begun to fall. My train, the EMU Odakyu "Romance Car" 60000 series (see my blog on September 4th, 2011) approached the platform in the twilight. It was a 4-car train with a cab with a gangway in the front. I often get on this train on the way home, but it was something special on that day, since it was very beautiful and glaring in the twilight (see the top photo).

Carpet of fallen ginkgo leaves in Tokeiji Temple near Kita-Kamakura Station