Kamakura, part 1

Since we had been unable to climb Fujiyama, we had an extra day to do some additional sightseeing. We chose to go to the temple laden city of Kamakura.  I found it interesting that, as I sat outside and waited for my group to finish shopping in a small souvenir store, I was surrounded by birds:

I believe that the first pic is of a black kite, the second I am not sure of and the third appears to be one of Japan's deluxe sized crows.  In any event, all three of these fellows appeared within the 15 minutes that I sat waiting so I could not resist taking a picture of two.

When we went looking for temples, there was very little chance that we would miss them.  The streets actually had Kannon (bodhisattva of compassion) banners to guide you in the right direction:

Photos of the giant statue of Kannon at this temple were strictly forbidden but the grounds themselves were stunningly beautiful.

And, if you needed to meditate with the Buddha, you had your choice of hundreds, literally:

I would have loved to hear the monks ring this ancient temple bell:

I could almost feel the vibration of it against my skin even though it was simply sitting there.

The Japanese are well know for mixing Buddhism and Shinto so it was no surprise when I stumbled across a shrine to the Japanese goddess Inari Okami in amongst all this Buddhist iconography:

Inari is often prayed to for prosperity so her shrines are very common in Japan.  They are always guarded by the kitsune, the white foxes above, who are renowned as shape shifters in Japanese folklore.

Speaking of birds, I could not resist a photo of this sign:

First wild monkeys and now ravening kites.  What is next for me in Japan?