Hydrangea at Hase temple in Kamakura

Hase Temple is a beautiful hillside Buddhist temple.
Hydrangeas are fully bloomed in the beginning of June every year.
A narrow path which runs along the hill is filled with hundreds of hydrangea in June.
It is one of the most favorite temple in Kamakura.
Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture,once it was a political capital along with Nara and Kyoto.
It makes an easy day trip from Tokyo.

Hydrangea

19 June – Best time to see in 2018

I arrived at Saimon – entrance of Hase temple at 8:00, same time as opening time to avoid overcrowded.
This place is very popular, so a lot of tourists visit here.

Iris at Japanese garden with pond.
It is fully bloomed at the same time as hydrangea every year.

Nagomi – Jizo statue.
One of the most popular object in this temple.

Buddha statue and hydrangea near the entrance of hydrangea path.

I could come to hydrangea path without sticking in congestion.
But still there were many people although only 20 minutes had passed since the opening time.

Going up the steep stairs in hot and humid weather was a little hard, but it leads you to the best photo spot of this temple.
Kyozo (sutra archive) and hydrangea.

Bamboo forest and hydrangea in front of Kyozo is also a nice photo spot.

17 June – Best time to see in 2017

I arrived at the entrance at 7:50.
Though it was 10 minutes earlier, the gate was already opened.
The staff at the entrance said that opening time sometimes moved up 10 – 15 minutes in the weekend of tourist season.

I bought a entrance ticket at the vending machine.
English,Japanese,Chinese and Korean are available.

I showed the ticket at this entrance.
Then I got a numbered ticket of hydrangea path from staff.
My number was 201.

Iris were fully bloomed in the Hojo-ike pond.

Shoin hall (place for Shakyo).

Benten-do hall.
You can enter into Benten-kutsu Cave under the Torii gate.

This cave is thought to have been used for seclusion by Kobo Daishi.

Statue of Benzaiten – a goddess of the sea.
According to legend, Kobo Daishi carved it himself while in seclusion.

There are some places where the ceiling is quite low.

I went up the stairs by seeing azaleas to go to hydrangea path.

On the way to hydrangea path, you can see various traditional buildings.
This is Shoro Belfry.

Amida-do hall.

Kannon-do hall.

Free rest area with cool mist.

They had street stalls and an observation deck.
You can see the nice view of the town of Kamakura and the Sagami Bay.

Public lavatory near the observation deck.

Entrance gate of hydrangea path.
As I looked the signboard, my number was displayed.
It means I can enter into the path.

Buddha statue and hydrangeas.

This stairs leads you to the gorgesous view of hydrangeas.

Jizo statue and hydrangea.
This is one of my favorite picture in this temple.

On top of the hydrangea path,you can see the amazing landscape of flowers and sea.
(But in the last year flowers were more beautiful than this year.)

Path was full of the visitors…

Stone statue and hydrangea.

Everyone likes to take pictures on top, but in the bottom of the path there was a nice photo spot.

Kyozo and hydrangea.
You can take a nice picture by standing in front of this sign board.
I took this picture by iPhone without zoom.

Kyozo Sutra archive and hydrangea.
It is the most popular photo spot near the end of the hydrangea path.
I sat down on this wooden pole and leant to the left a little.
Then took a picture by iPhone without zoom.

長谷寺の竹林 #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

After going down the stairs, you can see bamboo forest and Kyozo Sutra archive.
There is a rotating booktrack called rinzo where the important Buddist sutras for the temple are kept.

8 June – Best time to see in 2016

Sanmon (Main gate).
I bought an admission ticket in here.
You can buy it by vending machine(English and Chinese are available).
If you want to avoid congestion, you should come early in the morning on weekdays.
They open the gate at 8:00 A.M.

They have many kinds of hydrangea.

Iris was also fully bloomed in the pond.

This is entrance of the hydrangea walking path.
By going up the stairs, you can see the beautiful scenery with a lot of hydrangeas.
This path is very popular, so you have to wait to enter when it is crowded with people.
There is a huge board at entrance showing the approximately waiting time.
Waiting times can vary from 15 to 90 minutes.

You can see many kinds of hydrangea in the garden.

It is better to take pictures with statue and stone pagoda.

You can also see the beautiful view of the ocean from top of the hill.

This is the most popular photo spot.
It is located at the end of the walking path.
You may fit the Old building(Kyozo), hydrangea,bamboo forest in the frame when you take a picture.

5 June – Best time to see in 2015

13 June – Best time to see in 2014

Spider lily

22 September – Best time to see in 2017

Same as other temples and shrine in Kamakura, you can see spider lilies at Hase temple,too.
They are scattered inside the temple, but the best place to take photo is Ryoen(for a good matich of marriage) Jizo Statue.

Flowers and Stone monument near the Jizo statue was also nice.

Another best place to take picture of spider lilies is  hydrangea path.
In the middle of the slopes near the entrance of a path, you can take beautiful pictures with old buildings.

P.S.
Pink cotton rose outside the Sanmon gate was beautifully bloomed.

Information

【Opening hour】
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (From March to September)
8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (From October to February)

【Admission Fee】
300 yen for adult(12 years-old and over)
100 yen for children

【Access】
5 minutes walk from Hase station of Enoden line.

Other beautiful places in Kamakuara