Near the Great Buddha, Hase-dera, a large temple complex for the god/goddess Kannon can be found. Kannon is a Bodhisattva of compassion. Here you can see her many forms and become mesmerized by a large statue. Entrance costs 300 yen for adults.

The grounds of this temple are beautiful and there's a lot of area to explore. There's little gardens with small, meandering paths. Spring would be an excellent time to visit because there are many cherry trees.

After climbing the steps near the entrance, you'll find a large shrine to Jizo. Jizo helps stillborn, miscarried babies, or children who died very early towards the afterlife by hiding them in his robes and saving them from their fate of eternally piling up stones. At this part of the temple, you can find hundreds, possibly thousands, of small statues representing the miscarried and early-dead children. To see even more then walk behind the shrine area. It's quite heartbreaking to see the countless statues with lovingly-applied bibs.

Moving on and up more stairs, you'll find the main temple to Kannon. You can't take pictures of this incredible statue but you may feel its power days later! The statue really looks like it's staring into your soul. To the left of the statue you can enter a small museum with other, smaller statues of Kannon and a collection of old coins.

At the top area of the temple there's also a restaurant and a nice viewing area of the beach below. You can even push a bunch of sutras around a carousel and work off some of your karmic debt!

Don't forget to enter the small cave area to the right of the entrance. There's tiny wooden statues of a woman playing a koto throughout the cave. Just watch your head!

If you're interested in seeing some amazing aspects of Japanese Buddhism then I highly recommend visiting this temple. If possible, try to read as much as you can about Japanese Buddhism in order to understand the things you'll see. You will receive an information pamphlet in English but it won't cover any of the deeper questions.

The Great Buddha, or 'Daibatsu', can be found close to Hase station, just outside of Kamakura, at Kotoku-in temple. The bronze statue of a seated Buddha is over 13 meters tall. It's actually the second largest Buddha in Japan. The statue was originally made in the 13th century. It used to have a place in a temple but the temple was destroyed by a tsunami in the 15th century.

Entrance to see the statue is 300 yen for adults. There isn't much at the grounds aside from the large Buddha and, next to the smoking area, his oversized sandals. On the weekends, this site is very crowded. You can pay extra to view the area underneath the Great Buddha, but I don't recommend this because there isn't much to see.

Like most famous Japanese temples, there's a small area to buy trinkets. If you want a nice souvenir, I recommend buying an 'omamori'. These small fabric charms are supposed to help with a problem of your choice (health, driving, safety, and more) and their uses are written in English at the stand.