Get Thee to a Nunnery: Eisho-ji in Kamakura

Ishii-san at entrance to Eisho-ji

You've seen this little door before, perhaps twice. The Explorers spotted it a year ago on their way to the money-washing shrine and a few months later Ishii-san and I crawled through that door to view the garden on the other side. The garden is attached to Eisho-ji, the only remaining temple for nuns in Kamakura.

Today Ishii-san and I returned to Eisho-ji to see the recently reconstructed gate (left). This gate was destroyed during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. An enterprising man hauled away all the fragments of the gate and rebuilt it in his backyard, which must have been enormous, and not just by Japanese standards.  The gate changed hands again 88 years later and was returned to the temple where it was once again reconstructed.

There's been a bit of construction in the neighborhood surrounding the temple over the course of the past 88 years.  Train tracks have been laid, houses have been built, roads have been diverted.  Visitors these days approach the gate from the interior of the temple complex, through the garden, after paying 350 yen to a nice man who sits in a booth just inside the little door.

Passing through the gate, we turned around to experience the perspective of a 17th Century visitor (above).

There's a ladder to the second story of the gate to Ishii's right (your left). A piece of plywood blocks the ladder. I did not succeed in goading her into removing the plywood and clambering up the ladder, more's the pity, but she was intrigued by a cave on a nearby hillside so we inched our way up that slippery slope and caught another view of the gate.

Later I found out that Ishii-san spotted some very special flowers while we were scaling that slope. These small purple wildflowers, called iwatabako, have a short blooming season in a limited area. She says only lucky people can see this flower. Had I only known, I would have taken a picture for her.

It was another lucky day for both of us.