{Inter} Cultural Japan

A Guide to Kamakura is a huge labor of love and the best site to read through before planning a visit to the old capital.

The website was written by Mr Tadahiro Kondo, who as he tells in his profile, worked his whole life as salaryman in the paper industry before retiring in 2001. He has also been an expat in New York for 5 years. As two visiting American businessmen once complained about the paucity of materials on Kamakura, a favorite weekend destination also for foreigners, Mr Kondo decided to fill the gap by setting up this website. The site has been written for international visitors, but from a Japanese point of view.

[Main Hall of Kenchoji Temple, Kamakura. Photo Ad Blankestijn]

The guide starts off with useful historical and religious background, a list of annual observances, and other preliminaries. The temples and shrines that form the main part of the site have been divided according to location: Ofuna, Kita-Kamakura, and the many temples in the town itself, again divided into four sections. There is also a chapter on temples and shrines in Kanagawa and Shizuoka. The site is exhaustive in the number of (also smaller) temples and shrines that have been included and even more so in the descriptions which list every historical and cultural fact that can possibly be mentioned about a given destination. These detailed descriptions make this a great resource indeed, and not only for tourists.

This website can bring you to places you might never have visited otherwise. What about Jokomyoji and its gorgeous crowned Amida statue - note the floral decorations on the robe made with clay? Or the old Yakushi Hall in the quiet grounds of Kakuonji, where you have to observe the statues by the dim light of candles? And what about Gokurakuji and its wonderful thatched gate, as well as the statues of Shaka and the Ten Disciples hidden in its Treasure House?

There are only few photos, the focus is on the quality of the articles rather than on flashy presentation - and there is nothing wrong with that. The only minor point I have is that just temples and shrines have been included, and not also museums or other historical places.

I recommend this great guide most highly to all travelers to Kamakura who want to know more about the historical places they will be looking at - and indeed to anyone interested in the culture and history of Kamakura. It is a site to which I find myself coming back again and again.