[Date and Time] Sunday, June 12, at 11:00~17:30[Spots] Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Hasedera Temple, and Kotokuin Temple (Great Buddha)
[Visitors] 24 participants from 22 countries, with 2 each from Colombia and Mongolia, and 1 each from Jamaica, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Zambia, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Indonesia, Rwanda, Brazil, Ukraine, Maldives, Egypt, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Saudi Arabia, Bhutan, Serbia, and Nigeria
[Attendants] 23 KSGG members and 2 observers
As it was a pleasant weather during the rainy season, it was a perfect day for our visitors to enjoy sightseeing in Kamakura. It was the first time for the JICA participants to visit Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. They were impressed with its huge size and solemnity created by its long history. They were eagerly listening to our explanations of omamori or lucky charms, ema or votive picture tablets of horses, and omikuji or fortune slips, all of which they saw for the first time. After I had told them omikuji is a slip of paper which tells your fortune, some of them bought one. They were convinced what it said was quite true for themselves and enjoyed showing it to one another.
After lunch we went to Hasedera Temple by train, where hydrangeas were at their best. As one of our group members walked with a stick, I took her to an incense burner in the precincts. When I put the smoke on her leg, explaining its effect, she also rubbed her leg with the smoke and prayed with her hands put together. I also prayed that she would get well soon.
At Kotokuin Temple, all of them were very surprised to see how big the Great Buddha was and we took a group picture of us all as usual. When we said good-by in the train back and at Fujisawa Station, some of them offered their hands to me, saying “Thank you,” which made me feel how wonderful the guiding is. I really hope that more visitors will join our next tour around Kamakura.