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Sunday, we bonded with nature one day after Earth Day...we got out and about early and headed to Kitakamakura.

It's about an hour away by train from where we live.

First off, Jochiji...I saw this temple in a J-drama, and wanted to check it out.

Super peaceful and lots of birds chatting/singing away.

So many wild wisteria plants here and there too, just look for the purple on the mountain sides!

Meigetsuin...this temple is also called Ajisaidera because of all the hydrangea plants.

They open the area in back of the main hall during Shobu (iris) and Koyo (fall colors), not many flowers to be seen on this day, so we'll need to go back!

Many rabbits decorating the area and they even had a real black rabbit, Nero, so cute!

Been wanting to check out Chocolaterie Calva, especially since the owner chef Jiro Tanaka won the World Chocolate Masters in 2022.

Chocolate soft serve with 70% Saint Domingue bon bon & coffee...1474 yen (tax included)

Rich, creamy & the bon bon was fruity!

Matcha terrine & kurichocolat (chestnut chocolate) yokan & coffee...1155 yen (tax included)

rich, bitter matcha, brandy soaked chestnut and chocolate...delicious!

I'll be back.

Chojuji..in the sitting area they don’t allow chatter, so it was nice to be still for a couple of minutes and all the peonies in the garden were beautiful
 

Lunch at Micoco Cafe...I ordered the spice curry...1500 yen (tax included)

This came with a salad made with Kamakura veggies...the curry wasn't hot spicy but was super flavorful.

Satoshi had their kenchin soup with musubi 1150 yen (tax included)

I thought his lunch was a little too small, so I also gave him some of my curry.

Kenchoji is a huge property with lots of smaller temples.

One temple, Hansobo, has lots of tengu (goblins)

There is also a spot to see Mount Fuji, but dust cloud hampered our view on this day 

In the Dharma Hall you can view the dragon and clouds on the ceiling.

There are several juniper trees that are over 1000 years old.

When we visited there were also lots of peonies blooming.

Near the JR Kitakamakura station is Hanabishi, a sweet shop that sells fruit daifuku.

We purchased the benihoppe...580 yen (plus tax)

Fuji apple...430 yen (plus tax)

There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about these, though they do give you a red thread to cut your daifuku in half.

Glad we tried this but dunno that we’d go back here.

From Kitakamakura, you can walk to Kamakura, but I feel Kamakura is one of those overtourism spots, so we instead walked in the opposite direction to Ofuna, where we spotted the Ofuna Kannon.

In the past, we had seen the kannon from the train and wondered about it, apparently it took over 40 million yen and many decades to finish.

After hiking up the steep walkway, it was amazing to see.

The temples we visited had admission fees for adults & children (I've only noted the adult fee here).

It was nice to bond with nature and not many tourists.

We hope to come back to this area for iris & hydrangea season

Jochiji

1402 Yamanouchi

Kamakura, Kanagawa

Hours: 9:00-16:30

Admission* 200 yen for adults

Meigetsuin

189 Yamanouchi

Kamakura, Kanagawa

Hours: 9:00-16:00

Admission* 500 yen for adults

Chojuji

1503 Yamanouchi

Kamakura, Kanagawa

Hours: 9:00-15:00

Admission* 300 yen for adults

Kenchoji

8 Yamanouchi

Kamakura, Kanagawa

Hours: 8:30-16:30

Admission* 500 yen for adults

Micoco Cafe

1489-4 Yamanouchi

Kamakura, Kanagawa

Hours: 11:00-17:00

Chocolaterie Calva

407 Yamanouchi

Kamakura, Kanagawa

Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays

Hours: 10:00-16:00

Fruit Daifuku Hanabishi (UPDATE: out of business)

495-9 Yamanouchi

Kamakura, Kanagawa

Hours: 9:00-16:00 (closes earlier if sold out)

Ofuna Kannon

1-5-3 Okamoto

Kamakura, Kanagawa

Hours: 9:00-16:00

Admission* 300 yen for adults

More picture and videos here if you are interested