Date & Time: Wednesday, August 21, 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Spots: Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Komachidori Street, Hasedera Temple, Kotoku-in Temple (Great Buddha), Jomyoji Temple, Houkokuji Temple
Visitor: 1 Spanish Woman
Attendant: 1 KSGG Member
Language: English
The visitor is a small, talkative woman in her mid-forties who comes from Barcelona. She is full of vitality in spite of a heat wave. At first she bought a Kamakura one-day pass, which is very reasonable for 570 yen. It being a weekday, the shrine was rather vacant, and it was a shame we couldn’t see a bride. She was interested in sake barrels, which she had seen somewhere and she wondered what they were. On the Komachidori street, she tried almost all of the beans and bought some packs, however, she didn’t choose wasabi (Japanese horseradish) flavored beans. Although she enjoys o-sushi, she doesn’t put wasabi into them. At Hasedera Temple, she was healed by nagomi-jizo, or comfortable Jizo, and took a lot of pictures, saying Japanese gardens were so beautiful. Though she had seen the Great Buddha in Nara, she seemed to love the Buddha in Kamakura more. As she was interested in matcha or powdered green tea, the guide took her to Kisen-an at Jomyoji Temple. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see how the matcha green tea was prepared. During the hot summer season, cold green tea is available, so she ordered one. She enjoyed looking at a dry landscape garden and listening to the echoing sound of suikinkutu, a water jar placed in a garden that holds dripping water and resonates its splashing. I guided her to Houkokuji Temple to see a bamboo garden. She really appreciated Japanese beauty.