Date & Time: Tuesday, November 6, 10:00 a.m. – 18:00 p.m.
Spots: Hokokuji Temple, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Hasedera Temple, and Kotokuin Temple (the Great Buddha)
Visitors: 3 Spanish Couples
Attendant: 1 KSGG member
Language: Spanish
Although I was worried about whether they could come to Kamakura from Tokyo by rental car without any trouble, they arrived at Kamakura Station on time. They live in different areas in Spain, each coming from Barcelona, Asturias, and Galicia. When they traveled to Egypt, they got to know each other. First, we went to Hokokuji Temple by bus. They had green tea, looking at a bamboo garden. I explained Yagura, a sort of burial cave. Even though it was raining hard when we arrived at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, we could see a wedding ceremony, the Seven-Five-Three Festival, the festival for children who are 7, 5 and 3 years old, and Omiyamairi, shrine visit for babies. We stuffed our mouths with grape candies we bought at a street stall. They took a lot of photos whenever as they felt like it. Later the three of them bought an umbrella each on Komachidori Street because they couldn’t share one umbrella with their partners due to the heavy rain. They wanted to have local food for lunch and ordered four dried whitebait bowls and two raw whitebait bowls at the restaurant. They enjoyed them very much and were delighted to have the paper dolls I gave them. At Hasedera Temple, we enjoyed seeing the garden and under the big temple bell, I explained about the bells on New Year’s Eve. At Kotokuin Temple, they were surprised how large the great Buddha was. We talked over a cup of coffee at the end of our tour. It was a busy, but fun day.