Kamakura

Komachi (小町, Small Town) is a locality (a machi or chō (町)) in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, defined as the part of town north of the Ebisubashi bridge on the Namerigawa. The part of town south of the same bridge is called Ōmachi (大町, Big Town).

Kamakura Station (鎌倉駅, Kamakura-eki) is a railway station on the Yokosuka Line in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East).

Komachi Ōji (小町大路) is a street in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, that begins at Sujikaebashi (筋違橋) (locality named after a bridge which no longer exists) from the Kanazawa Kaidō, crosses Yoko Ōji, passes in front of Hōkai-ji and Honkaku-ji, crosses the Ebisudōbashi Bridge (see photo), Ōmachi Ōji and Kuruma Ōji, reaches Moto Hachiman and Kōmyō-ji, and finally ends in Zaimokuza near Wakaejima. It is believed this is what the Azuma Kagami calls "Komachi Ōji" and other texts "Komachi Kōji". It used to be also called Machi Kōji (町小路). The name seems to stem from the fact that the Ebisudōbashi Bridge has been for centuries the border between the two areas called Komachi and Ōmachi, Komachi being the more important of the two. The Azuma Kagami says that along Komachi Ōji there were the houses of the powerful (the gokenin) and, for almost the entire Kamakura period, the seat of the government. The entrance of all buildings in Komachi not belonging to the Hōjō (the ruling clan) or to the Bakufu (with the curious exception of houses of ill repute) had to face away from Wakamiya Ōji (Honkaku-ji is a good example).

Ima Kōji (今小路), sometimes also called Ima Ōji (今大路) is the name of a section of a longer street in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan. Strictly speaking, Ima Kōji goes from Katsu no Hashi Bridge (勝ノ橋) in front of Jufuku-ji to Tatsumi Jinja Shrine (巽神社) about 400 m further south, but the name is used all the way to the intersection with Yuigahama Avenue. Although certainly old enough, historical documents written at the time of the Kamakura shogunate like the Azuma Kagami do not mention it.

Myōhon-ji (妙本寺) is one of the oldest Nichiren sect temples in Kamakura, Kanagawa. Its official name is Chōkō-zan Myōhon-ji (長興山妙本寺). "Chōkō" comes from the posthumous name of Nichiren's father and "Myōhon" from his mother's.

The Kamakura shogunate (Japanese: 鎌倉幕府, Hepburn: Kamakura bakufu) was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333.The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Yoritomo after victory in the Genpei War and appointing himself as shōgun. Yoritomo governed Japan as military dictator from the eastern city of Kamakura with the emperor of Japan and his Imperial Court in the official capital city of Heian-kyō (Kyoto) as figureheads. The Kamakura shōguns were members of the Minamoto clan until 1226, the Fujiwara clan until 1252, and the last six were minor princes of the imperial family. The Hōjō clan were the de facto rulers of Japan as shikken (regent) of the shōgun from 1203. The Kamakura shogunate saw the Jōkyū War in 1221 and the Mongol invasions of Japan under Kublai Khan in 1274 and 1281. The Kamakura shogunate was overthrown in the Kenmu Restoration under Emperor Go-Daigo in 1333, re-establishing Imperial rule until Ashikaga Takauji and his offspring overthrew the imperial government and founded the Ashikaga shogunate in 1336 (Nanboku-chō period).

The 1333 siege of Kamakura was a battle of the Genkō War, and marked the end of the power of the Hōjō clan, which had dominated the regency of the Kamakura shogunate for over a century. Forces loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo and led by Nitta Yoshisada entered the city from multiple directions and destroyed it; in the end, the Hōjō leaders retreated to Tōshō-ji, the Hōjō family temple, where they committed suicide with the rest of the clan.

Yoko Ōji (横大路) is the name of a short street in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, which begins in front of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, the city's most important Shinto shrine and ends in front of Hōkai-ji. It is believed to be the street that passed in front of the so-called Ōkura Bakufu, seat of first shōgun Minamoto no Yoritomo's first government, which was in turn a section of the old Kanazawa Kaidō.

Ōmachi Ōji (大町大路) is the name of a street in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, which begins at Geba Yotsukado and ends at the Nagoshi Pass. It takes its name from the district of Ōmachi, which it crosses. At the time of the shogunate it was the most important road that went from east to west. The entertainment and red-light district of the city used to be at the intersection between Komachi Ōji and Ōmachi Ōji. The branch of the street that from the intersection goes in the opposite direction is called Yuigahama Ōdori (Yuigahama Avenue). On it stand temples like An'yō-in and Ankokuron-ji.

Kikokuzan Kongō Jufuku Zenji (亀谷山金剛寿福禅寺), usually known as Jufuku-ji, is a temple of the Kenchō-ji branch of the Rinzai sect and the oldest Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Ranked third among Kamakura's prestigious Five Mountains, it is number 24 among the Thirty-Three Kamakura Kannon (鎌倉三十三観音, Kamakura Sanjūsan Kannon) pilgrimage temples and number 18 of the Kamakura Nijūyon Jizō (鎌倉二十四地蔵) temples. Its main object of worship is Shaka Nyorai.

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū (鶴岡八幡宮) is the most important Shinto shrine in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The shrine is a cultural center of the city of Kamakura and serves as the venue of many of its most important festivals with two museums. For most of its history, it served both as a Hachiman shrine, and in latter years a Tendai Buddhist temple typical of Japanese Buddhist architecture. The famed Buddhist priest Nichiren Daishonin once reputedly visited the shrine to reprimand the kami Hachiman just before his execution at Shichirigahama beach. A former one thousand-year-old ginkgo tree near its entrance was uprooted by a storm on 10 March 2010. The shrine continues to serve as one of the Important Cultural Properties of Japan.

Kinryūzan Shakuman-in Endon Hōkai-ji (金龍山釈満院円頓宝戒寺) is a Buddhist temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Often called Hagidera (萩寺), or "bush-clover temple", because those flowers are numerous in its garden, its existence is directly linked to a famous tragedy that on July 4, 1333 wiped out almost the entire Hōjō clan, ruler of Japan for 135 years. The temple was founded expressly to enshrine the souls of the 870 members (men, women and children) of the clan who, in accordance with the samurai code of honor, committed suicide on that day at their family temple (bodaiji) of Tōshō-ji to escape defeat. Together with ancient Sugimoto-dera, Hōkai-ji is the only temple of the Tendai denomination in Kamakura. Formerly a branch temple (寺末, matsuji) of the great Kan'ei-ji (one of the two Tokugawa family temples), after its destruction it became a branch of Enryaku-ji.