The red hall
Atop the stone stairs.
Daderot — CC0 · LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · 御影守駒氏 — CC0 · Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0 · Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0 · Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0 · Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0 · Syced — CC0
Kamakura's most important Shinto shrine and the city's cultural centre, host of its main festivals, with two museums. It was first built in 1063 as a branch of Iwashimizu Shrine and moved to its present site in 1191 by Minamoto no Yoritomo, founder of the Kamakura shogunate; it is dedicated to Hachiman, the Shinto patron of warriors. Visitors approach along a long, straight avenue lined with cherry trees, pass an arched bridge over the channel joining two ponds and climb a broad stone stairway to the red main hall overlooking the city. Below the stairway stands an open pavilion, the Maiden, where weddings, dances and music are performed; the shrine also has extensive peony gardens, and Japanese archery, including archery on horseback, is practised here. A ginkgo about a thousand years old once stood by the entrance until a storm uprooted it on 10 March 2010. Entry is free, and it opens 6:00-20:00, per visitor guides. It is about a 10-minute walk from Kamakura Station along the busy shopping street of Komachi-dōri, and it is packed at New Year.
Atop the stone stairs.
Between the ponds.
Up to the shrine.
Yukinoshita, north of Kamakura Station
Yes, entry is free and it opens 6:00-20:00 per visitor guides; it is about a 10-minute walk from Kamakura Station.