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With so much to see in Kamakura, there's little time left for exploring the surrounding area. However, one possibility is the tiny, sacred island of ENOSHIMA , twenty minutes west of Kamakura Station on the private Enoden line (Y250). Tied to the mainland by a six-hundred-metre-long bridge, Enoshima has a few sights - some shrines, a botanical garden and a missable cave - but its prime attraction is as a pleasant place to walk away from motor traffic. The island's best appreciated on weekdays in the off season; during summer and on holiday weekends, it seems liable to sink under the weight of visitors. If you do happen to be here in July or August, however, there's solace to be had in the funky wooden bars lining the beaches from Kamakura to Enoshima, and in the spectacular summer firework displays - Enoshima's lasts a staggering ninety minutes (July 25). This Shonan coast, as it's known, is also a favourite spot for windsurfers. As the Enoden-line train rattles into Enoshima Station from Kamakura, look out on the right for the copper-clad roofs of Ryuko-ji . This temple was built on the spot where the monk Nichiren, founder of the eponymous Buddhist sect , was nearly beheaded in 1271 for his persistent criticisms of the government and rival sects. According to legend, as the executioner's sword was about to fall, a fortuitous bolt of lightning split the blade in two, just in time for the shogun's messenger to arrive with a reprieve. Ryuko-ji was founded a few years later and the main hall, its Buddha image surrounded by a sea of gold, is a good example of the sect's striking decorative style. To the left of the hall there's a statue of Nichiren in the cave where he was imprisoned and a staircase leading up to a smaller temple. Turn right here and follow the path round to where a magnificent five-storey pagoda, erected in 1910, seems part of the surrounding forest. From Enoshima Station it's roughly fifteen minutes' walk southwest to the island , via a bridge constructed over the original sand-spit. Enoshima's eastern side shelters a yacht harbour and car parks, but otherwise the knuckle of rock - less than 1km from end to end - is largely covered with woods and a network of well-marked paths. Where the bridge ends, walk straight ahead under the bronze torii and uphill past restaurants and souvenir shops (the first on the left stocks informative, English maps), to where the steps begin; though the climb's easy enough, there are three escalators tunnelled through the hillside (Y330, or pay for each separately). Enoshima is mostly famous for a naked statue of Benten , the Goddess of Fortune and the Arts, which is housed in an octagonal hall (daily 9am-5pm; Y150) halfway up the hill. Though the pale-skinned, purple-haired beauty strumming her lute is said to be 600 years old and ranked among Japan's top three Benten images, it's a little hard to see what all the fuss is about. Continuing uphill you'll pass several other shrine buildings belonging to Enoshima-jinja, founded in the thirteenth century and dedicated to the guardian of sailors and fisherfolk, before emerging beside a nicely laid-out botanical garden (daily 9am-5pm; Y200). If it's clear, you'll get good views south to Oshima's smoking volcano and west to Fuji from the lighthouse (an extra Y280) inside the garden. The path then drops down steeply to the island's rocky west shore and two caves known as Iwaya (daily 9am-4pm, 5pm in summer; Y500). Though it's an attractive walk, you might want to give these very artificial grottoes, with their piped music and roaring dragons, a miss. If you're heading back to central Tokyo from Enoshima, the easiest route is the Odakyu-Enoshima line direct to Shinjuku, though note that these trains depart from a different station; from the island causeway, turn left across the river to find Katase-Enoshima Station, with its distinctive Chinese-style facade. Alternatively, walk back to Enoshima Station and take the Enoden line west to its terminal in Fujisawa, where you have to change stations for Tokaido-line trains to Tokyo Station via Yokohama and Shinagawa.
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