Kamakura

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Kamakura

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Non-seasonal Topic
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

Kamakura　鎌倉






Surrounded by mountains on three sides and the open water of Sagami Bay on the fourth, Kamakura is a natural fortress. During the Heian period it was the chief city of the Kantō region, and from the 12th through 14th centuries the Minamoto shoguns ruled Japan from here under what is known as the Kamakura Shogunate (Kamakura Jidai, 鎌倉時代 , 1185–1333).

Kamakura is now mainly known for its temples and shrines. Kōtoku-in, with the monumental outdoor bronze statue of Amida Buddha, the most famous of these. A 15th Century tsunami destroyed the temple that once housed the Great Buddha, but the statue survived and has remained outdoors ever since.

Magnificent Zen temples like Kencho-ji and Engaku-ji; the Tokei-ji (a nunnery that was a refuge for women who wanted to divorce their husbands); the Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine; the Hase-dera, an ancient Kannon temple; the graves of Minamoto no Yoritomo and Hōjō Masako; and the Kamakura-gu where Prince Morinaga was executed, top the list of Kamakura's most famous historical and religious sites.

Kamakura has a beach which, in combination with the temples and the proximity to Tokyo, makes it a popular tourist destination. The city is well-provided with restaurants and other tourist-oriented amenities.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Religious people love nature. Kamakuraites love flowers. No matter when you visit Kamakura, flowers are always with you. Many temples are famous for certain flowers.
(See haiku below.)
There is much to be said about the atmosphere of Kamakura and its attraction to haiku poets. I will try to add more later.

Gabi Greve


And here is the ... BEST guide to Kamakura and its temples.



Saint Nichiren (日蓮) and Kamakura


Kamakura Kaido 鎌倉街道
Kamakura Kaidō, Kamakura Highway or Highways during the Kamakura Period


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Susumsu Takiguchi about Hoshino Tsubaki sensei

Kamakura wa nami no oto yori ake yasushi

in Kamakura
dawn breaks from the sound of waves,
getting earlier and earlier

Kamakura is where Kyoshi lived and worked most of his life after leaving his hometown, Matsuyama. Tsubaki and her son, Takashi, have founded a haiku
museum there in honor of Kyoshi and of Tsubaki's mother, Tatsuko. The museum
has become a center of haiku studies and composition. As the haiku indicates, residents of this coastal town are always conscious of the sea.
Kyoshi founded a new haiku magazine, Tamamo, and gave it to Tatsuko to run.
Now it is run by Tsubaki and Takashi.


More about: Hoshino Tsubaki and
Takahama Kyoshi and Kamakura

鎌倉虚子立子記念館

Kamakura Haiku by Kyoshi

鎌倉は古き都や注連の内

鎌倉を驚かしたる余寒あり

早春の鎌倉山の椿かな

鎌倉に實朝忌あり美しき

鎌倉の山に響きて花火かな

鎌倉や牡丹の根に蟹遊ぶ

鎌倉の草庵春の嵐かな

鎌倉に春の雪降る訃いたる

Haiku by Kyoshi about Kamakura





His Grave at Jufukuji 寿福寺, Kamakura


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

Kamakura Sayumi, a Haiku Poet
Sayumi Kamakura 鎌倉佐弓




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HAIKU

Issa in Kamakura

蛤や在鎌倉の雁鴎
hamaguri ya zai-kamakura no kari kamome

O clams
meet the geese and gulls
of Greater Kamakura!



春雨やかまくら雀何となく
harusame ya kamakura suzume nan to naku

in spring rain
Kamakura's sparrow's...
how they sing!



かまくらや昔どなたの千代椿
kamakura ya mukashi donata no chiyo tsubaki

Kamakura--
who planted this camellia
in olden times?



かまくらや犬にも一ッ御なん餅
kamakura ya inu ni mo hitotsu o-nan mochi

in Kamakura
one for the dog...
sacred rice cakes

This haiku refers to a celebration held on the 12th day of Ninth Month. Rice cakes in bean jam are offered to Nichiren, the founder of one of Japan's major Buddhist sects. These offerings commemorate a time when an old woman fed Nichiren when he was in exile.




しぐるるや在鎌倉雁かもめ
shigururu ya imasu kamakura kari kamome

winter rain falls
on Kamakura's residents...
geeses, gulls




鎌倉や今はかがしの屋敷守
Kamakura ya ima wa kagashi no yashiki mori

Kamakura--
these days scarecrows
are the gatekeepers

Kobayashi Issa / Tr. David Lanoue




栄華は昔、今年豊作
the prosperity is the past
and the best harvest this year

©　Haiga and Renku : Nakamura Sakuo

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Kamakura ya Zen to haiku ni ume kaori

plum blossoms
adorning Zen and haiku
at Kamakura asile

Masaaki Oka

Plum-view haiku walk to Tokeiji Temple (woman-escaping-to-Temple) in Kamakura.

More Kamakura Haiku, 2005
Moderator: Catherine Urquhart


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Gabi Greve:
I lived in Kamakura from 1977 till 1995. I was member of a local haiku group for many years.





鎌倉や観光客の夏の陣
Kamakura ya kankookyaku no natsu no jin

Oh Kamakura !
the "Battle of Summer"
of the tourists

"FACTS : Osaka natsu no jin" (the Summer battle of Osaka)

Every year, there were more noisy visitors coming to town to visit temples and shrines, with roads crowded by smelly tourist buses, the beach filled with people (and waste and leftovers next morning)... after about 15 years it was time for us to move on to the quiet mountains of Okayama !



a different temple
for each season <>
flowers of Kamakura

Flower Calendar in Kamakura


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Related words


Hoshino Tsubaki 星野 椿
Granddaughter of Takahama Kyoshi 　


***** WKD: ABC Reference


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