He is disabled and can't use the left side of his body very well. He is one of our best students and has such a great spirit and determination. He is always inspiring us to keep working hard and improving ourselves as human beings. He has worked hard to get his English level to where it is at today for about 20 years now, and is still coming to One Bridge to keep improving and using his English abilities. Since he is from Kamakura, he was the perfect tour guide for one of the coolest places on Earth.
We visited a total of five shrines/temples in the Kamakura area. We started off at the main Shinto shrine Hachimangu. As always it was sitting up on it's perch, with it's powerful red gaze looking down on the city below. We then headed over to Zeniarai Benten, which has a bit of an Indy Jones feel to it. As you can see, the photo above is from the tunnel at Zeniarai Benten. We washed a random assortment of Japanese Yen in the Shrine waters, and then headed over to the Zuisenji Buddhist temple.
This is where we noticed the strength and determination of our student. He has to use a cane, so sometimes stairs can be difficult. Zuisenji is his favorite Buddhist temple, and is at the top of a hill, accessible by a huge jungle ridden stair case. This did not stop him though. Unwavering, he fought his way up the many stairs and arrived at the gates of Zuisenji. Yes it was hot, yes it was humid, and yes it was a lot of stairs, but you wouldn't hear one complaint from this man. He wanted to show us the beautiful temple at the top of the moss covered, spider swarmed staircase. What was pretty interesting, just outside the main doors of the temple grounds, was a small Japanese style natural fountain that had ICE cold water coming out of it's spout.
After that we drove on over to Sugimoto-Dera, the oldest Buddhist temple in Kamakura, at the ripe old age of around 1300 years old. He waited in the car, while we ran up the hill (with another huge, winding staircase) checked it out, took pictures with the Kongourikishi (or scary temple guardian statues) and came back down.
From there, we stopped at the last must-see shrine/temple of the day, Hokokuji. Hokokuji is one of the coolest temples in Japan. There is a small tea house behind it, that is surrounded by a very surreal looking bamboo forest. After we we're finished at Hokokuji, we decided to head over to China Town in Yokohama for some reason (though, to be honest, who needs a reason, the place is awesome). We finished off the night checking out a *Guan Gong temple in China Town.
(*I am still trying to find the actual name of the temple, so Guan Gong could be incorrect).
All in all it was a very enjoyable day, checking out some of the most historic places in Japan. Even if it was one of the hottest days of the year. :)
Our students never cease to inspire us. From the Kindergarteners, all the way up to the adults. It is amazing what happens when cultures start communicating with each other.