Shonan Monorail SMR01:Ofuna

The Shonan Monorail links Ofuna in the north of Kamakura to the little island of Enoshima. It opened in 1970 & was the first monorail of its kind in Japan. It’s a pretty fun way to cruise on down to Enoshima, and the stations along its route are the final components of my final daft list from Japan – for the forseeable future, at any rate.

Local Sights

It’s kind of weird that Ofuna is actually part of Kamakura city itself; the first thing that springs to mind when you think about the latter is an ancient capital, rich in touristy sites – temples, shrines, tombs, caves, secluded groves and hidden hillside trails. Ofuna, at first blush, isn’t anything like that.

The most famous sight in Ofuna is one that will be familiar to anybody who has ever ridden the Tokaido line: the Ofuna Kannon, a statue high up on the hill smiling beneficiently down upon the commuters bustling to and fro in one of Kanagawa’s busiest stations.

Other than that, there are some pretty good local shops to get your groceries in for reasonable prices.

Oh, and the Kanagawa Prefectural Botanical Garden is a short walk down the road from the entrance to the Kannon temple, if you’re in a floral frame of mind.

All About SMR01 Ofuna Station

The Ofuna monorail station is a short distance from the JR station, off to one side of a department store, up on an elevated walkway that looks down onto the streets below. Ofuna always seems to be busy; there’s always somebody in a rush somewhere.

The back streets that lead off from the main road beneath the monorail station have lots of cool local grocery stores, selling fish, meat and fruit & veg at the kind of prices that make you feel you’ve just been at a market stall.

The main touristy draw in Ofuna is on the other side of the tracks where not a whole lot of shopping goes on. While there are some apartment buildings and car parks, it’s fairly quiet beneath the Kannon’s bowed head.

Ofuna JR station, through which you will need to travel to get to the entrance to the Kannon temple, is a weird beast: inside it’s a sprawling smorgasbord of shopping establishments with a few restaurants thrown in to the mix. But that’s past the ticket gates and only accessible to people travelling on the lines through there. The route to the Kannon, in contrast, is a bit empty.

Perhaps it’s to help you clear your mind for contemplative reflection once you’ve made your way up the steps to see the big lady close up:

It’s a great view, and the Kannon – as one might expect – brings a sense of calm and peace to her surroundings that not even the constant clatter of the trains below can fully intrude upon.

Work started on the 25 metre tall statue in 1929 but was interrupted by World War Two, and so it would be 1960 before it was finally completed. It’s built from concrete and was entirely handmade, at least according to Wikipedia:

The statue construction is that of sections of poured concrete and was performed entirely by hand. No concrete pump trucks were used.
from the WIKIPEDIA ENTRY on The Ofuna Kannon

Back along the road towards Fujisawa, you can find the Kanagawa Prefectural Botanical Gardens. However, if (like me) you visit at the wrong time of year you may find yourself greeted with rather more greenery than the burst of colours one might more typically associate with a place dedicated to flowers.

Nevertheless, I’ve always found that wandering through a well-tended garden such as this one, even when the seasons are against you, has a similar effect on the noise in my head as being in the presence of a smiling statue of a Buddhist deity.

(Definitely more secular though.)

Oh and they also have a pet hedgehog who lives here, although he was asleep at the back of his cage when I was there.