Kamakura · Cultural Experience
A part of Engaku-ji that is closed to visitors, reserved for a few hours.
From
¥60,000 per person
approx. US$380
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Instant confirmation
A cultural tour of Engaku-ji in Kita-Kamakura, including access to an area of the temple that is normally off-limits. You walk the grounds with a guide, then spend time inside the reserved section for an experience the general public does not get. Admission and refreshments are included.
Engaku-ji was founded in the thirteenth century, when Kamakura and not Kyoto was the seat of power in Japan. The temple is one of the great Rinzai Zen monasteries and the grounds are extensive. Your guide walks them with you and explains what Zen was doing in a military capital.
Part of the temple is not open to visitors. It has been reserved for this tour, which means a small group in a space that normally sees only the community that lives there. Walking into it is the moment the day stops feeling like sightseeing.
What happens in the reserved area is the point of the tour and works better unexplained in advance. It is participatory rather than observed, your guide interprets throughout, and refreshments are served. It is an hour of real quiet, in a part of the temple that does not normally admit visitors.
Meet your guide at the station.
A guided walk through the temple.
Into the part of the temple closed to visitors.
Snacks, and time to talk before you leave.
Kita-Kamakura Station, at the exit. The station is about an hour from central Tokyo. Your guide will contact you on WhatsApp beforehand.
Around an hour by train from central Tokyo. The station is at the temple gate, so there is no further walk.
Your English-speaking guide, temple admission, the experience fee and snacks. Only your transport is separate.
Yes, easily. It runs three hours, and the Great Buddha and Hase-dera are a short train ride away afterwards.
For children old enough to be quiet in a monastery, yes. Tell us the ages when you book.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start time. Bookings are confirmed instantly.
Kamakura · Day Tour
8 hours · From ¥30,000
