Report

Kamakura & Enoshima Day Trip by the Enoden Line!

Mako

January 20, 2020

Kamakura & Enoshima Day Trip by the Enoden Line! — This is the picture from the front. I felt the dignity of the Buddha.

Where is Kamakura & Enoshima?

Kamakura, the beautiful town facing the ocean, is located in Kanagawa prefecture where is south of Tokyo. Kamakura flourished as the center of Japanese politics about 1,000 years ago and famous temples/shrines built then are still remained today. Among them, the Great Buddha of Kamakura and Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine are very popular tourist spots.
Enoshima is a small Island near Kamakura also known as the famous tourist spot. Enoshima shrine which enshrines the god of music and Enoshima aquarium are very popular.

What is the Enoden Line?

The Enoden Line (the ENOshima DENtetsu line) is the local line connecting Kamakura and Enoshima. It has 15 stations in total from Fujisawa station in Kanagawa prefecture to Kamakura station which takes about 30 minutes. When trains run coastal area, the view is extraordinary!

Report

On one Sunday during New Years Holiday, I went to Kamakura & Enoshima day trip! As there are many tourist attractions, I couldn’t visit all places but it was still super fun. Below would be the brief report of my day trip.

Started here, Fujisawa station of the Enoden Line! I arrived at Fujisawa station at 10:20 am.

Bought the one-day pass ‘Noriorikun’ at a ticket vending machine. If you’re planning to go around many places, it is a very good deal that costs JPY 650 per adult.

This the view from the train window…! When the weather is nice, you can enjoy wonderful views!

After running about 30 minutes, arrived at the last stop, Kamakura station! It was about 11:00am.

Since it was Sunday, there were lots of people at the station.

Firstly, I went to the Komachi-dori Street right next to the station. You can enjoy shopping and eating around here!

The street was also filled with many people!

Visited Kamakura Ham Tomioka Shokai, the store specializes in ham.

Croquette looks appetizing! I got the bacon croquette at the bottom of the photo.

This is the croquette! It was very good that the flavor of potato and bacon perfectly matched!

Next is this! Another croquette from Imoyoshi Yakata. You may notice I love croquettes!

I got this Mentai (spicy cod roe) croquette! It was a bit spicy and totally new flavor to me that I loved it.

Then, visited Kamakura Wasen where you can enjoy various seafood and pastes.

They grill what you ordered in front of you!

This is Satsuma-age (deep fried fish paste)! It is so big but only costs JPY 250! It made me so full.

Went to the Main Street! You could see the Torii gate on the far of many people.

Arrived Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine at 12:00pm! Lots of food stalls were lined up.

As it was during the New Years holiday, it had a long queue to worship. People were allowed to go up little by little considering the safety.

Waited about 15 minutes and finally made it to the up!

This number of people…! You can tell how shrines are crowded during New Years Holidays.

After praying, I drew Omikuji (written oracle) to read my 2020 fortune. You can check how to pray and how to draw Omikuji at the shrines/temples page.

This is what I got! Uncertain luck… It was not that bad so let’s be positive and have a lovely year…!

When you get misfortune or great misfortune, you can tie it here to wish for blessing.

Had a little break time at this tea house in the shrine!

Enjoyed this sweet and delicious Mitarashi dango (sweet rice dumping)! Left Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine and headed to the next place.

Came back to the Kamakura station! It was about 13:20pm.

Arrived at this Hase station at 13:30pm.

Came to the Kotokuin Temple where is famous for its great Buddha of Kamakura. Paid the admission fee, JPY 300 and entered the temple.

You can see the great Buddha of Kamakura immediately! Very huge.

This is the picture from the front. I felt the dignity of the Buddha.

You can enter inside the Buddha by paying extra fee.

At the back of the temple, there is a monument engraved with a waka (Japanese poem)!

This is the poem by Ms. Akiko Yosano, the very famous person of culture in Japan.

Next, I walked to Hasedera temple also located near Hase station. This temple was built around 1,300 years ago and has a long and distinguished history. Arrived here at 14:30pm.

This is the Kannondo Hall where people pray.

The view you can see near from the Kannondo Hall! Loved this beautiful ocean view.

The shrine has the cave called Bentenkutsu. The cave is famous as the place where Kobo Daishi, the founder of Buddhism Shingon sect, confined himself and prayed.

Buddhism guardian deities are hand-carved inside the cave and this benzai ten statue is famous.

Again, I became a bit hungry so went to Hase Shokudo right next to the Hase station! This is inside the restaurant! Arrived at 15:15pm.

We can enjoy set meals of Shirasu (whitebait) here. Kamakura and Enoshimas’ delicious Shirasu are really popular.

Began with Kamakura beer! Isn’t it just great to drink beer from the afternoon?

This is the boiled Shirasu-don (rice bowl of boiled whitebait)!

After I became full, got on the Enoden again!

Visited this Kamakura Kokomae station! It was 15:50pm.

The view from this railroad crossing is very popular because Slam Dunk, the famous basket ball manga, used this place for its main opening.

Lots of people got off the train here and were taking pictures.

Crossed the railroad crossing and went to the beach… And saw this wonderful ocean view!

The view surely touched my heart. I came back to the Enoden again.

Arrived at today’s last destination, Enoshima station! It was already 16:30pm so decided to go to the Enoshima shrine this time and save Enoshima aquarium for the next time!

The sunset and Mt. Fuji over the sea! The superb view.

Walking along the bridge on the left side, we can go to Enoshima island!

It took about 20 minutes from the station to Enoshima on foot.

Visited Enoshima shrine! This Enoshima shrine is one of the three major shrines enshrining benzai ten. Itsukushima shrine in Hiroshima is also one of them.

It was getting very dark. Started walking to the top of Enoshima!

If you would like to go up by escalators, you can get on it by paying the fee. You can easily go up! Please note that you need to walk to go down as they don’t have an escalator going down.

Arrived at the top of Enoshima! Enjoyed the night view. Also it had these shining illuminations…!

If you enter the Enoshima Sea Candle on the right side of picture, you can enjoy best views from the higher place. I didn’t enter this time.

The days are getting shorter in winter. Came back to Enoshima station at 19:00pm.

Got on the Enoden line and came back to Fujisawa station at 19:30pm! This is the end of my day trip!

Summary

Kamakura and Enoshima are surely filled with Japanese history, culture, delicious cuisine, beautiful nature, and fantastic views! Even it was a day trip, I could visit all the highlights and had an immensely rich day! I also saw many foreigners enjoying their time here. We really recommend visiting Kamakura and Enoshima, the lovely towns where is only about an hour from Tokyo!