Kamakura City 鎌倉市

Located in the southwest of Tôkyô on Sagami Bay, the city of Kamakura, with its approximately 175,000 inhabitants, was the political centre and seat of Japan’s first military government (bakufu) between 1192 and 1333. Today’s main attractions for many visitors are the numerous and well-preserved temple and shrine buildings of that era – as well as daibutsu, the country’s largest Buddha figure sitting in the open air. Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū is the most important Shintō shrine in the city. Below Kamakura is the Shonan coast, with beaches that are very popular with surfers from Tôkyô and Yokohama.