Kamakura, Part 2

After visiting Kannon and spending some time admiring that beautiful image - which we were not allowed to photograph - our group moved on to the 'star attraction' of Kamakura, the Great Buddha.  I loved this sign from the Prior of the monastery there:

"Stranger, whosoever thou art and whatever thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages.  This is the temple of the Buddha and the gods of the Eternal and should therefore be entered with reverence."

Just to drive that point home, one is greeted at the gate to the compound by a matched pair of Dharma Protectors who look like this:

These fellows definitely looked as though they would take care of business if one were not proper in one's conduct while on the grounds.

Of course, it is the Buddha itself that dominates the sanctuary.  I have included several shots below to give you an idea of its size and the number of people who were there on that weekday morning.

And, in case you wondered about the Buddha's diet, here is a picture of the offering placed before the statue.

As you can see there were many people wandering the compound.  Many of them were, like me, taking pictures and generally enjoying the sights but some of these folks came to offer their prayers and petitions.

This is a theme that I saw repeated in temples and shrines all over Japan.  There just did not seem to be the raging dichotomy between science and technology and ancient faith and practice that we see here in the U.S.  The same individual offering prayers at their local shrine would then turn around and consult a portable electronic device for directions to the next site.  I found this acceptance of paradox quite refreshing.

On a side note, I had a Japanese gentleman sit down next to me while I was waiting for my crew to finish up in the gift shop (do you see a recurring theme here :-).  He began to speak to me in English and I learned that he had taught himself the language and came, from a train station several stops down from Kamakura, to the Great Buddha site frequently so that he could practice his English on the foreigners who came to visit there.  His English was quite good for someone with no formal training and I was amazed and a little humbled at the determination of this man to learn our language for no other reason than that he wanted to.