Day 37 - Kamakura

Today was our second field trip through the JLSP program -- Kamakura bound. We each woke up an extra hour earlier to be at school by 7:45 and ready to leave by 8:00. I didn't know much about Kamakura before going so I wasn't sure what to expect. Before heading onto the tour bus, we were partnered up with Japanese volunteers who we'd be speaking to the rest of the day.

An hour and forty-five minutes later we arrive in Kamakura, first checking out a little temple with hundreds of hydrangeas filling the area. It was really pretty seeing all these flowers in bloom, in various colors from white to purple. After a little while spent there we headed over to a temple/shrine where we'd get to experience "Sazen" a Buddhist practice of breathing. Similar to meditation, we sat in rows in uncomfortable positions and were made to stay still and blank our minds.

A monk walked around, and would hit those who bow and asked with a flat long wooden stick. Nami was the first one to ask for it, and she happened to sit across from me. Boy did it look like it hurt. He passed by our rows without anyone else getting hit and moved to the third row, behind me. He must have hit about 4 or 5 people and came back to our row. Because I thought this would be my only experience with Sazen, I thought, oh what the heck. The funny thing is, before we even started, I whispered to Bob sitting next to me, "Dude, I have to fart." Unfortunately I forgot this fact when I was about to be hit. So I bowed, and prepared myself. The monk swung down with that long stick of his and at first contact out came a small but noticeable "bbb~~~". I almost wanted to laugh but I had to prepare myself for the next few hits. And what do you know, when the second swing came down I farted again.

Apparently people from both the rows in back and across facing my row heard my fart. Hahaha, it was truly a story to tell afterward. "Oh ya, the monk gave me a beating and I farted in return." After our Sazen training we jumped back on the bus and drove to a nearby restaurant where I had about 5 types of sashimi. All but the tuna seemed a bit too strong in taste and texture for my liking. When lunch finished we were able to do whatever we wanted for the remaining two hours.

We decided to walk to the nearby island called "Enoshima" which is famous for all sorts of things I'm not quite sure of. When we got there we saw many little shops selling souvenirs and snacks on the way to the shrine. When we reached the bottom of the shrine, we didn't know we actually had to climb about 4 long flights of stairs just to see it. No wonder they put a little money slot box on the bottom of the steps -- it's probably for those who want to pray but not walk all the way to the top.

When we were templed out we walked back to the main streets and found a little train track that took us to our next destination, the Daibutsu or 'Giant Buddha'. For a mere 200yen we were able to walk right up to this giant Buddha. For an additional 20yen we got to walk inside of the Buddha, and see what it looked like.

Running a little late to meet up with the rest of the group (the teachers) we caught the first train we could to meet up at the rendezvous point. After some group pictures we walked back to the bus and slept our way home.