Kamakura

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Kamakura-shi
鎌倉 市
Kamakura
Geographical location in Japan
Kamakura (Japan)
Red pog.svg
Region : Kanto
Prefecture : Kanagawa
Coordinates : 35 ° 19 '  N , 139 ° 33'  E Coordinates: 35 ° 19 '9 "  N , 139 ° 32' 48"  E
Basic data
Surface: 39.53 km²
Residents : 172,262
(October 1, 2019)
Population density : 4358 inhabitants per km²
Community key : 14204-2
Postal code area : 247-0052-248-0036
Symbols
Flag / coat of arms:
Flag / coat of arms of Kamakura
Tree : Prunus jamasakura
Flower : gentian
town hall
Address : Kamakura City Hall
18 - 10 , Onari-chō
Kamakura -shi
Kanagawa  248-8686
Website URL: http://www.city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp
Location Kamakuras in Kanagawa Prefecture
Location of Kamakuras in the prefecture
Amida - Buddha in the Kōtoku-in temple of Kamakura

Kamakura ( Japanese 鎌倉 市 -shi , literally: sickle bearing ) is a city in the Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa .

geography

Kamakura is a city about 50 km southwest of Tokyo on Sagami Bay , which is surrounded by five mountains to the north, east and west. It was the seat of government of Japan from 1185 to 1333. The main attractions for many domestic and foreign tourists are the numerous well-preserved temples and shrines from that era. Kamakura's beach is also a popular destination.

history

During the Heian period (794–1185), Kamakura was the most important city in the Kantō region.

After the victory over the Taira clan by Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199), this was able to prevail in 1192 at the Tennō to be hereditary appointed Shogun. But already his grandson Sanetomo was murdered in 1219. The real power in Kamakura was then exercised by the caretakers, the Hōjō , who were descended from the Taira, and ruled from here over all of Japan until 1333 ( Kamakura Shogunate ). The city developed into the political and cultural center of the country. After the fall of the Hōjō in 1333, Kamakura lost importance in the context of the subsequent Kemmu restoration and the beginning of the Muromachi period, and the seat of government was moved back to Kyoto .

Attractions

There are numerous Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in Kamakura . The best known is the Kōtoku-in with the 1252 built monumental bronze statue of Amida - Buddha , commonly called "Daibutsu". In 1498 a tsunami destroyed the temple, about 860 m from the beach, and the hall surrounding the Great Buddha, since then the figure has stood free.

The following temples of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism were awarded the name Kamakura-Gozan by the Ashikaga shogunate in Kamakura in 1386 :

Other sights include the Tōkei-ji (a nunnery where women willing to divorce found refuge), the Tsurugaoka-Hachiman shrine , the Meigetsu-in ( 明月 院 ) with its hydrangeas, the Ōfuna-Kannon statue and the Hase-dera temple .

Other well-known shrines are the Zeniarai-Benzaiten-Ugafuku-Shrine and the Zeniarai-benten-Ugafuku-jinja ( 銭 洗 弁 天宇 賀 福 神社 ), which was set up in a mountain grotto. The goddess Benzaiten is worshiped together with Ugafuku. The addition Zeniarai means money laundering (in the local source), which is supposed to help you get rich.

Culture and festivals

Kamakura is known for a special technique of wood carving , the so-called "Kamakura-bori". Wooden objects are provided with plant reliefs and coated with numerous layers of lacquer. This technique, which originally came from China, was refined by Buddhist artists and initially used for religious objects, from the second half of the 19th century also for everyday objects.

Celebrations

January 4th
At Chōna-Hajime , carpenters and woodworkers at the Tsurugaoka-Hachiman Shrine ask for the success of their work.
15. January
Sagichō at the Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine, where the paper decorations used for the New Year celebrations are burned.
February 11th
The Daikokutōe at Chōshō-ji Temple is a ceremony in which Buddhist monks pour cold water over themselves to practice their will while praying for world peace.
2-3 Sunday in April
Kamakura Festival at Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine.
August 10
Fireworks on Kamakura Beach.
8th-9th October
Takigi-Nō , public Nō performances in the open air at the Kamakura Shrine.
December 18th
Toshi no Ichi , end-of-year party at Hasedera Temple.

traffic

sons and daughters of the town

Neighboring cities and communities

Town twinning

  • FranceFrance Nice , France, since 1966
  • JapanJapan Hagi , Japan, since 1979
  • JapanJapan Ueda , Japan, since 1979
  • JapanJapan Ashikaga , Japan, since 1982
  • China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China Dunhuang , People's Republic of China, since 1998
  • United StatesUnited States Nashville , United States, since 2014

In popular culture

Most of the action in the manga Elfen Lied and the anime based on it takes place in Kamakura . The plot of the anime film Your Voice: Kimikoe , released in 2017, also takes place in Kamakura and the surrounding areas.

literature

  • Susanne Elfferding (ed.): Kamakura - the old capital of the samurai on the way to world heritage . Keiō gijuku daigaku Shōnan Fujisawa gakkai, Fujisawa 2007, ISBN 4-87762-168-7 .

Web links

Commons : Kamakura  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Later shoguns had to prove their descent from the Minamoto clan to the Tennō.
  2. ↑ Florian Coulmas / Judith Stalpers: Fukushima - From the earthquake to the atomic catastrophe Verlag CHBeck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-62563-3 .
  3. ↑ Kamakura, Japan. Retrieved July 29, 2019 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ The characters for the place name are Ateji , so they have nothing to do with a sickle or a camp .