Hase-dera temple

Hase-dera in Kamakura was founded according to legend in 736 and holds one of Japan's tallest wooden Buddha statues, a 9.18-metre eleven-headed Kannon carved from a single camphor tree. Legend says the statue washed ashore at Kamakura after being lost from Nara. The temple is the fourth station of the Bando Sanjusankasho pilgrimage that links 33 Kannon temples of the eastern provinces. On the hillside thousands of small Jizo statuettes commemorate deceased children, and a hydrangea path becomes world-famous in June. From the upper terrace the view reaches across Kamakura Bay. A hidden basement holds a Benten shrine inside a cave.