Kamakura Hiking Trails

One reason ancient Kamakura was chosen as the ‘Capital of the Samurai’ was that it was surrounded by deep forest and open to the sea in only one direction. This means that the geographical features of Kamakura were a natural fortress. The Kamakura Shogunate consciously built very narrow paths in the forest and cut paths through rocks for the purpose of defense.
Today, the remnants of the paths the samurai walked are well maintained as hiking courses. All the important places for the Kamakura Shogunate were connected by these trails.

Please enjoy hiking and feeling the wind on your cheeks; you might also feel something that the samurai left behind.

Below are links to my series “Seeing Kamakura from the back end.”

INDEX

Click on the title you are interested in.

1 Tenen Hiking Trail: From Kencho-ji Temple to Zuisen-ji Temple, and all the way to old Mutsu-ura Port (The Japanese port for trade with China)
2 Daibutsu Hiking Trail: From Daibutsu to Kita-Kamakura
3 Gion-yama Hiking Trail: From Yagumo-jinja Shrine to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine
4 Kinubari-yama Hiking Trail: From Sugimoto-dera Temple to Ganden-ji Temple
5 Rokkoku-kenzan Hiking Trail: From Joraku-ji Temple (strongly connected to the 3rd Regent) to Meigetsu-in Temple (strongly connected to the 5th Regent)