Scripts of My Life (僕の人生の脚本)

Lying here with you
Listening to the rain
Smiling just to see the smile upon your face
These are the moments I thank God that I’m alive
These are the moments I’ll remember all my life
I found all I’ve waited for
And I could not ask for more

No, this is not the piano piece by Pachelbel.. This is a famous statue in Ofuna Station, the KANNON BOSATSU (Skt. Avalokitesvara), Goddess of Mercy that originated from India… Well, it was believed that there are 33 manifestations of Kannon in different forms.. There are also 33 Kannon statues in Kamakura, but this was the only one that we visited.. There was a story that you must visit the temples in order and that will be an act of great merit… Well, we didnt have enough time and we didnt know the locations of the other statues, plus this was the nearest in our house, thats why this is the one we visited… This is a picture of Kannon from the Ofuna Station:

View from the Train Station

The Kannon Head is a sign for the passengers of the train that will tell them that they are nearing the end of their long journey.. Those who came from Osaka or Nagoya that is going to Tokyo via train, will know that they are near the Tokyo station, which is about 45 minutes from Ofuna Station..

So the path going there is not hard.. Actually, I never imagined that it was very near the station because I never go to the other back side of the station.. So exiting the station from the back side, we crossed this bridge and walked for another 10 minutes to reach the pathway to the temple:

Bridge going to the Path of the Temple

This is the Entrance to the Path going to the Temple

So here comes the hard part.. Going up!!! The path way is a small road going up with bamboos on the left side and a hill on the right.. It took us about 8 minutes to reach the top which was the entrance to the temple.. The entrance costs only 300 yen..

The Temple Gate

So after entering the first thing you will notice is this scenery, under a temple..

Folded Crane Shrine

The place has this many 100 folded crane origami which was believed to make your wish come true if you ever folded 1000 cranes.. Also, there was incenses and some stones with writings that i didnt understood.. ehehe…

Going up will take you to one of the temple which has a bell, where you will pray and say your wish and ring the bell.. There are steps to do this, and I didnt know that so I didnt tried to make a wish..

Going further up will take you to the highest point of the whole place, were the head of Kannon is located..

Head of Kannon

Side View

At the back of the head, there is an entrance to its head.. Then inside the head, you will see a mini-Kannon statue and some things that I cant explain.. Also, inside the head, you can put your 1000 folded crane origami..

Mini Kannon Statue

The place is not that small.. There were alot of open spaces where you can rest.. Also, there is a great view of Kamakura-Ofuna from the top.. The air was cold, and it was very relaxing…

At the end of the day, before leaving the temple, we saw some Priests and we grabbed the chance to have a picture with them.. Here are the priests of the temple:

Temple Priest

So the experience was great… I know for the fact that there are alot of temples in Kamakura, and this is just one of them.. Hopefully, I can visit the other temples as well.. Specially if you are with your friends like mine:

Friendly Friends

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