Kamakura Beach
Kamakura: The ancient capital with a beach!
Sunny Summer Days in Plum Rain Season!
Hello from Kamakura, Japan.
We had some nice, sunny days this week right after I finished writing about the rainy season in Japan. The temperature went up into the 80s Fahrenheit (28–30 Celsius). My body couldn’t take the sudden temperature rise after the few cool and rainy days we had. I was supposed to go help clean the tea house, but I gave up before biking up the big hill that connects the main part of Kamakura to Kita-Kamakura (Northern Kamakura). I felt faint so I came home, turned on a fan, and sat on the couch to watch my enormous load of laundry dry under the scorching sun. My mind was set for the rainy season, but it was a summer day, a beach day out there.
Kamakura: Not just mountains (thankfully)
Next day, it was still sunny and hot but I felt much better. My husband and I decided to take a bike ride down to the beach instead of our daily walk. The beach is about a 15 minute-bike-ride from my house. I was not sure I could take the strong sunshine at the beach, but I’m glad I went.
Kamakura is surrounded to the north, east, and west by hills but to the south by the open water. Among the three ancient capitals of Japan (Kyoto, Nara, are the other two) Kamakura is the only one on the coast. A popular course to take when visiting is to spend the morning and midday enjoying the temples, shrines and history, then wrap up the day with a walk down to the beach to feel the sea breeze and admire the sunset.
Beaches of Kamakura
There are three public beaches in Kamakura: Zaimokuza, Yuigahama, and Koshigoe, which attract visitors to enjoy all sorts of marine sports, like sailing, surfing, sea kayaking, and windsurfing, or just swimming and sunbathing. Right down the street from Kamakura Station, Yuigahama is one of the most popular beaches in Japan.
There’s also two places you can see Mt. Fuji: one is the far left side of Zaimokuza beach (toward Zushi), and the other is the park in Inamuragasaki.
Summer of course is peak season for beaches. In 2019, about 350,000 people visited the beaches in Kamakura. That might seem like a lot, but that was only half of the previous year, due to bad weather. Lines of (mostly younger) people walking down from Kamakura station to Yuigahama beach is a typical summer sight. We know too well how chaotic with youthful energy it can get at the beach, so we usually head left to Zaimokuza, which is a little more low-key, family friendly beach in my personal opinion.
In June, just around this time of the year, various types of beach houses, from ramshackle shanties to company-sponsored nightclub-style constructions are built to provide food, beverages, and changing rooms for all of the beach goers. Not this year, though. Kamakura City decided to “close” all the beaches due to COVID-19 to avoid crowding. They’ll still let people on the beach, but there won’t be any beach houses, and no lifeguard services. It will be a different beach scene from usual years. What will happen? We will see.
Of course, the fireworks by the beach, another summer tradition in Kamakura, are canceled this year as well to avoid crowding. Let’s all hope for next year.
Beaches Back then
Back during the Kamakura era (1185–1333), Yuigahama beach was a place to train military arts including horseback archery. The concept of bathing at the beach didn’t start until much later, and surprisingly, was not seen as a leisure activity, but as a medical treatment. The German doctor, Mr. Beltz (1849–1913), considered a co-founder of modern Western medicine in Japan, encouraged people to sunbathe and swim in the ocean for their health. He recommended to the Japanese government that the beaches in Kamakura and Zushi be made “health resorts.” The famous Japanese novelist, Natsume Sōseki, depicted the crowds at Yuigahama beach back then in his novel, Kokoro.
From the 1950s till 1960s, over 3 million people visited beaches in Kamakura each year. Sometimes, over 400 thousand people would come on a single day! I can’t imagine how crowded it must have felt back then.
Oceanside vs Mountainside
The beaches definitely have a different vibe than the mountain side of Kamakura. Whenever I bike down to the beach, it makes me feel like all the things I was worrying aren’t that big of a deal. The sound of the waves erases them all. This must be a part of the ocean’s miracle therapy that Mr. Beltz did not mention! When I listen closely, the waves seem to be saying “everything will be okay, tiny humans. It will all work out.” Oceans make us smile and forget about trivial things. Please try it sometime if you are near the ocean.
On the other hand, being in the mountains makes me feel more focused inward, inside of myself. Maybe that is why Zen temples in Kamakura are located in the mountains, not by the beach. They seem to fit better in the mountains, it’s true. I am grateful that we have both in Kamakura. We can choose where to go depending on our mood.
In my 40+ years of life, I have always lived close to the ocean or a lake, including the times I lived in New York and Vermont. The best memories from my childhood are when I visited my grandparents’ house near the ocean in Chiba Prefecture. The waves were much rougher and energetic than Kamakura’s, but I remember I loved being by the ocean, soaking my feet and holding hands with my parents and my little sister. Whenever I soak my feet in the ocean in Kamakura, I remember those sweet memories.
There are many more stories of the ocean in Kamakura — fishermen’s lives, war histories, Ukiyoe, and more. I will talk more about the ocean in future posts.
Thank you for reading.
Love from Kamakura.
Kamakura Mind Blog
Photos: Alexander O. Smith
References: (Only in Japanese)
Yuighama
Kamakura Media Report, Sept. 2019
Interviewing People in Kamakura #10 (Mr. Hayashi)
