Daibutsu aka The Great Buddha of Kamakura
Since I was already in Kamakura, I figured it’d do me some good to at least visit the Great Buddha aka Daibutsu of Kotokuin Temple. After all, the Great Buddha was one of the things I had wanted to see in Kamakura. Unfortunately, Kotokuin Temple, like many other temples and shrines in Japan had an admission fee. While I understand how financially helpful it may be for places of worship to collect admission fees, I couldn’t help but to feel bitter about it.
With Kamakura being “Little Kyoto”, I could have easily visited many temples and shrines but didn’t bother to do so as I was pretty turned off with the whole admission fees nonsense. I understand that if these religious sites didn’t collect fees, throngs of people would probably take advantage of seeing something very sacred, old or magnificent with little to no care. But at the same time, there are people that care. In fact, devotees, either to Buddhism or Shintoism exist so I find it a slap to these people’s faces. It’s a shame, in my opinion.
Anyway, I paid my entrance fee to see the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) and while magnificent in my photos, it wasn’t all that magnificent to me.
It was weird to see the Great Buddha being appreciated as something akin to an Instagram worthy post. Ridiculous, if you ask me. But then again, I can’t really blame people as practically everyone is obsessed with social media or at the very least has it on the back of their minds somewhere.
Fortunately, I did see a few people paying their respects to the Daibutsu but they stood out for paying their respects or praying, actually.
I thought it was wonderful that they prayed without caring about the many visitors seeing them do so. The funny but not so funny thing about this was when I overheard a Japanese native saying they were Thai. They weren’t and I knew because I had overheard them talking in Burmese. Not that I understand Burmese, but I can differentiate between Burmese and Thai. Burmese for starters is not a tonal language whereas Thai is a tonal language.
While the bulk of them were praying on the sidelines, one girl prayed on the floor, right in front of the Daibutsu. While there was nothing particularly wrong with doing this, I caught an employee of Kotokuin Temple looking unhappy/annoyed of this as he came to get something (the fruits?) and I couldn’t help but to be bothered by this. Like, is this really a temple? I felt that every visitor had a right to pray in their own way, even if it’s not the same way a Japanese person would do it. A place of worship should be welcoming but this place screamed of tourism before religion and it didn’t sit well with me.
Yes, the girl probably should have made her praying session brief and yes, she probably should have prayed from the sidelines instead. (Japanese mentality would probably say she was being inconsiderate of the many other people that wanted to get a photo with the Daibutsu.) But maybe, she’s praying for something super important (who knows what’s going on in her life, right?) and I think if her praying to the Daibutsu can help her feel relieved, it’s a good thing. Isn’t that or shouldn’t that be the main purpose of the Daibutsu or any Buddhist statue, actually? I wonder.
As with every shrine and temple in Japan, there were temple goods for sale. I got an amulet simply because it was cheaper than amulets for sale at other religious sites. But then again, the amulet I got didn’t have a bell and the material seemed rather skimpy in comparison to amulets sold at other shrines and temples in Japan. Whatevs.
The gift shop
There was also a gift shop on site which I wasn’t too fond of simply because the employee didn’t bother to greet me but went out of her way to greet a Japanese couple that approached the shop after me. Like, wtf. If it’s because you can tell I’m a foreigner, then just greet with a simple hello in English. Don’t just selectively greet people on the basis of ethnicity/nationality. (Please do not even try to excuse her for being shy to foreigners because that’s just one bad excuse. Way too many foreigners visit Kamakura. And way too many people are required to learn English in Japan. I don’t expect rocket science English, but a simple hello is easy enough.)
I should also add that I found the exact same Daibutsu charm being sold in this gift shop at a higher price than some shop a few blocks away from Kotokuin Temple. Thank goodness I had bought the charm from there instead!
I left, glad to have seen the Daibutsu of Kotokoin Temple but at the same time, somewhat disappointed as the ambiance of the temple was just off. If you decide to visit this temple, make sure you explore the grounds. While there’s not much to see besides the Daibutsu, there is something sacred housed in the back of the grounds, near the restroom. I wished I could have seen the caged statue more clearly. If anything, this was the most peaceful area of the temple grounds and probably a good place to pray and meditate, provided that you don’t get irked by the occasional passerby.
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