Kamakura: The Great Buddha and the Daibutsu Hiking Trail

Kamakura was the seat of Japan’s first shogunate, and the hills that once made it defensible now make it a walking town. This route strings together the two temples of the Hase quarter, the ridge trail that runs behind them, and the shrines at the town’s heart — a small city where a forest path drops you out at a torii gate.

It is an easy day, but not a flat one: the Daibutsu hiking trail has several steep sections and exposed roots, and it turns slick after rain. Wear shoes with grip rather than sandals.

Getting there. From Tokyo take the JR Yokosuka Line to Kamakura Station (about an hour), then change to the little Enoden line for two stops to Hase Station, where this walk begins. It ends back at Kamakura Station.

Permits & tickets. No permit needed. Kōtoku-in and Hase-dera each charge a small admission; Hase-dera’s museum is separately ticketed. Zeniarai Benzaiten and Tsurugaoka Hachimangū are free, and the hiking trail is open and unticketed.

Good to know:

The trail can be muddy for days after rain, and it is unlit — start in the morning and don’t leave the descent to dusk.
Kōtoku-in closes in the late afternoon, and earlier in winter; check the current hours before arriving late in the day.
Hase and Komachi-dōri are shoulder to shoulder on spring weekends and holidays.

Day 1

Hase temples, the ridge trail and the old shrines

Hase Station (Enoden line) → Kamakura Station 7 km

Navigate this day

Two temples in the Hase quarter, a wooded ridge walk with several steep pitches, a cave shrine in a valley, and a finish along the shrine approach into town.

Segments

The Great Buddha at Kōtoku-in 0.7 km 📍 Map

Hase Station → Kōtoku-in

Paved streets

The Daibutsu is a bronze Amida Buddha of about 13 metres, cast in 1252 and sitting in the open air ever since the hall that once covered it was lost. For a token extra fee you can step inside the hollow statue and see the casting seams from within. Allow about half an hour.

About this place

Kōtoku-in (高徳院) is a Buddhist temple of the Jōdo-shū sect in the city of Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Its mountain name is Daii-zan (大異山), and its common temple name is Shōjōsen-ji (清浄泉寺).
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Photo: 663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0
Hase-dera 0.5 km 📍 Map

Kōtoku-in → Hase-dera

Paved streets and temple steps

A hillside temple built around a towering gilded statue of the eleven-headed Kannon, said to be among the largest wooden statues in Japan. Below it a small grotto is packed with Benzaiten carvings, and the terrace looks out over Yuigahama beach. Allow about an hour.

About this place

Hase-dera , commonly called the Hase-kannon (長谷観音), is one of the Buddhist temples in the city of Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, famous for housing a massive wooden statue of Jūichimen Kannon, an eleven-headed manifestation of the Bodhisattva Kannon.
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Photo: 三人日 · CC BY-SA 3.0
The Daibutsu hiking trail 2.5 km 📍 Map

Trailhead above Kōtoku-in → Ridge junction above Sasuke valley

Forest ridge path, roots and steep pitches

Return past the Great Buddha to the trailhead a few hundred metres up the road, and climb onto the wooded ridge that shelters Kamakura from the north. The path rolls along the crest under trees, with several steep sections and side spurs dropping to small shrines and temples. Slippery and muddy after rain.
Zeniarai Benzaiten 0.8 km 📍 Map

Ridge junction → Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine

Steep descent and a tunnel approach

Drop off the ridge and enter through a rock tunnel into a shrine tucked in a hollow of the cliffs. Visitors wash coins and notes in the spring water in the cave, in the belief the money will multiply. Small, smoky with incense, and one of the most atmospheric corners of the town.

About this place

Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine , popularly known as Zeniarai Benten, is a Shinto shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is a small shrine, but the second most popular spot in Kamakura after Tsurugaoka Hachimangū. Zeniarai Benzaiten is popular among tourists because the waters of a spring in its cave are said to be able to multiply the money washed in it. The object of worship is a syncretic kami that fuses a traditional spirit called Ugafukujin (宇賀福神) with the Buddhist goddess of Indian origin Sarasvati, known in Japanese as Benzaiten. The shrine is one of the minority in Japan that still shows the fusion of native religious beliefs and foreign Buddhism, which was normal before the Meiji restoration. Zeniarai Benzaiten used to be an external massha of Ōgigayatsu's Yazaka Daijin (八坂大神), but became independent in 1970 under its present name.
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Photo: Tarourashima · Public domain
Tsurugaoka Hachimangū 2 km 📍 Map

Zeniarai Benzaiten → Tsurugaoka Hachimangū

Residential streets and shrine approach

Walk down through quiet residential lanes to Kamakura's most important Shinto shrine, founded by Minamoto no Yoritomo and raised on a stone stairway above its ponds. It hosts the town's biggest festivals, including yabusame horseback archery in spring and autumn. Free to enter.

About this place

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū (鶴岡八幡宮) is the most important Shinto shrine in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The shrine is a cultural center of the city of Kamakura and serves as the venue of many of its most important festivals with two museums.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Fg2 · Public domain
Komachi-dōri 0.5 km 📍 Map

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū → Kamakura Station

Pedestrian shopping street

Finish down Komachi-dōri, the narrow lane of snack stalls, craft shops and sweet shops that runs parallel to the shrine's grand avenue back to the station. Grill your own senbei rice cracker, or queue for soft-serve, before the train home.