Another え…
Egara Tenjinsha is in eastern Kamakura, just a few minutes from the larger and better-known Kamakura-gu. I had never been until January 2018, and had always thought it to be a rather small, minor shrine. You can imagine my surprise when I reached the top of the stairway to discover shrine grounds fairly overflowing with New Year’s visitors. The lineup to reach the main hall wrapped around the small plateau, and the lineup to receive… whatever it was everyone was filling out applications for, was equally as long.
Though the sando is pretty average now, once upon a time, it was quite extraordinary. In her book, Kamakura: Fact and Legend, Iso Mutsu writes that “a long and imposing avenue of ancient pines forms the approach, spanned by a large stone torii.”
Egara Tenjinsha’s main shrine building is a beautiful orange, reminiscent of the buildings of Heian Jingu in Kyoto. According to Guide to Kamakura, by Akemi Ohno, the main sanctuary — a National Important Cultural Property — was originally part of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu. Ohno writes that it is the only wooden building from the Kamakura period still in Kamakura.
鎌倉ペンション・Inn By The Sea Kamakura 