The Great Buddha, bamboo groves, and a medieval capital by the sea
Kamakura was Japan's political capital from 1185 to 1333, when the Minamoto shogunate chose this natural fortress — mountains on three sides, ocean on one — to govern the country. Today it's an easy day-trip from Tokyo but rewards a longer stay: 65 temples, 19 shrines, the iconic 13.35-metre bronze Daibutsu (Great Buddha), and the ethereal Bamboo Grove at Hokokuji. The town retains a quiet, unhurried quality that Tokyo lacks, with fishing boats in the harbour and hydrangeas exploding purple across the hillsides every June.
Minamoto no Yoritomo established Japan's first shogunate here in 1185, creating a warrior government that ruled in parallel with — and largely overshadowed — the imperial court in Kyoto. The period produced Zen Buddhism's deepest Japanese roots: Engakuji and Kenchoji were founded as centers of Rinzai Zen practice and patronized by the shoguns. The Kamakura Shogunate fell in 1333 when Emperor Go-Daigo and Nitta Yoshisada besieged the city; loyalists of the last regent committed mass suicide at Toshoji. The Great Buddha (Kotoku-in Daibutsu), cast in bronze in 1252, once sat inside a hall — the…