Guiding HIDA Participants around Kamakura

[Date & Time] Sunday, December 13, at 10:00~ 16:30
[Spots] Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Komachidori Shopping Street, Hasedera Temple, Kotokuin Temple (Great Buddha), and Yuigahama Beach
[Visitors]  29 HIDA participants from 6 countries, with 11 from Bangladesh, 9 from Thailand, 5 from India, 2 from Cambodia, 2 from Indonesia and 2 from Japan
[Attendants] 10 KSGG members
[Languages］English, Thai, Indonesian, and Japanese

　The weather was changeable at that time of the year.  The autumn leaves were beautiful though it drizzled on that day.  The participants were happy to see small children wearing kimono for the Shichi-Go-San Festival and some Japanese adults in kimono as well.  We couldn’t see Maiden because it was the day for cleaning it.  We enjoyed watching a lot of little cute white ducks and young brown ducks on the pond, which was one of the scenes of that season.  I heard that the scene of ducks fly into the sky is amazing.

 ---  A Group of Thai ---
[Visitors] 9 Participants from Thailand
[Attendants] 3 KSGG members
[Language］ Thai

  All the participants walked through the torii Gate in the rain.  I said to them, “We Japanese clean our hands and mouths at the chozuya, a container holding water, first and pray at a main hall in shrines and temples.  When in Rome, do as the Romans do.  I’ll show you how to do it.”  After praying, they looked for wooden tablets with Thai characters and drew fortune slips.  I heard that a temple in Kyusyu has fortune slips written in Thai.  After lunch, we talked about Japanese food.  One of them said that the ramen noodles he had in Akihabara wasn’t good unexpectedly as the soup was too salty.  Another participant said that baked sweet potato was very tasty.  They started taking photos around the pond in Hasedera Temple as soon as we got there because they liked the water with greenery.  They also enjoyed taking photos of themselves against a background of autumn leaves at their best even in the rain.
  In Kotokuin Temple, I first showed them the pine tree which was planted to commemorate the visit of the King of Thailand Ⅵto this temple 100 years ago.  He was the Crown Prince at that time.  I have never seen anybody who knows about this tree.
The rain let up and the Great Buddha welcomed us with a gentle smile.  Unfortunately we had bad weather, but I think they learned a part of the history and culture of Kamakura and the tradition and customs of Japan.  We had a group photo with a guardian dog before saying good bye.