Japan 08 Kamakura

A great day trip to Kamakura started as all do with M tucked in the back pack in the back on a taxi.
We went on by train for about an hour and then, after a needed stop at a noodle shop we set out through the town and up the path for the Shrine Walk.
This walk that took up eventually from one to another along a rolling ridge encompassed many intriguing shrines of varying sizes.
Above you will find the Happy J before the sign indicating the God of Happiness, Hotei, waiting inside the cave.
A short trek upwards through brilliant red banners took us to the tiny shrine for foxes. Yes, foxes but I cant tell you why! An in image above has the tiny little fox figure, again in the aprons and with various small structures around them, tucked into a rock alongside the trail.
Another Shrine was what we westerners might call money laundering. It was the money washing Shrine where the belief is clean, blessed money brings more money.
The large and famous Kamakura Buddha and the impressive temple about to the Goddess of Mercy await near the end of the walk.
The last image is of a tiny Shrine located on the walk down from the Goddesses temple and very near a cave of Buddhas that you have to very nearly crawl to get from one end to the other. I dont know what this lovely little Shrine is for but it had a most compelling beauty and despite it assumed antiquity was slightly reminiscent of an Amon hotel, elegant and serene.