Oxley photographs the snowfall of Kamakura, January 2022.
The author with his cockatoo Chalie
(Our good friend and TheDiarist.ph’s contributor Peter Oxley passed away Nov. 7, 2023, from lingering effects of heart attack, in his beloved Kamakura. We are republishing his beautiful piece on Kamakura and convey our condolences to his life-long partner, Virgil Calaguian, also a collaborator of TheDiarist.ph.
(Peter was an established British-born photographer who had lived and exhibited in various places, from Metro Manila to Tokyo, London, New York, Siem Reap in Cambodia. Anywhere, he created a trove of photographs of these places, and wrote his stories of them. A resident of Kamakura, he launched a photo book, Kamakura Mon Amour, a love letter to his Kamakura—the place of four seasons where he had lived the past six years. Through Samurai Phototours (http://www.samuraiphototours.com) he shared his beloved home with visitors.
(He has written other books—Matsuri – Call of the Gods; Days of Light; Lights! Camera! Lipstick!
(Kamakura Mon Amour is a 64-page book printed on high-quality Premium Lustre paper, and is available in both softcover and hardcover image wrap editions. See link at end of story.)—Editor
Peter Oxley photographs the snowfall of Kamakura in and around Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and the approach along Dankazura on Wakamiya Oji Boulevard, January 2022.
I’ve lived in Japan for about 30 years. Actually, I have left three times and come back four times. Seems something can’t keep me away. Now I am a permanent resident. I’ve lived in Kamakura just almost six years, but I am familiar with Kamakura because I used to play tennis and windsurf here on weekends in the 1980s.
I lived in the Philippines several times, once in 1977 (when I ended up being an “extra” in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now being shot on location there), then in 1998 (when I had my first photo exhibition at the Ayala Museum, opened by the British ambassador then, senator Leticia Shahani and poetess Virgie Moreno), and in 2015/16 (after we left our boutique hotel, the Cockatoo Nature Resort, in Cambodia).
Peter Oxley photographs the snowfall of Kamakura in and around Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and the approach along Dankazura on Wakamiya Oji Boulevard, January 2022.
Peter Oxley photographs the snowfall of Kamakura, in and around Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and the approach along Dankazura on Wakamiya Oji Boulevard, January 2022.
I love Kamakura for the mountains and the sea, the beach, and the temples, shrines and gardens. And the fresh air. Guess I have always been interested in culture and history. It is interesting that I used to run tours of the Angkor Wat of the 9th-13th centuries, and now of the Kamakura of the 12th-14th centuries. However, if you ask me where I would prefer to be reborn, I would probably say early 19th century Vienna or Belle Epoque Paris.
I’ve lived in Cambodia from 2008-2015, and much earlier, in California, from 1981-1982. I have visited more than 50 different countries, memorable ones—France, Italy, Russia, Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Vietnam.
Peter Oxley photographs the snowfall of Kamakura, in and around Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and the approach along Dankazura on Wakamiya Oji Boulevard, January 2022.
Under Samurai Phototours, I take overseas visitors to the three must-sees in Kamakura—Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, Hasedera, and the Great Buddha. These are the temples that most people come to see on a one-day tour from Tokyo. They are beautiful and full of history and culture, but I prefer some of the lesser known temples that have fewer visitors, like Kosokuji, Kaizoji, and Meigetsu-in. There you can contemplate life and the wonder of nature, away from the madding crowds.
Peter Oxley photographs the snowfall of Kamakura, in and around Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and the approach along Dankazura on Wakamiya Oji Boulevard, January 2022.
Peter Oxley photographs the snowfall of Kamakura, in and around Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and the approach along Dankazura on Wakamiya Oji Boulevard, January 2022.
Peter Oxley photographs the snowfall of Kamakura, in and around Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and the approach along Dankazura on Wakamiya Oji Boulevard, January 2022.
As I wrote in my book:
Kamakura is a medium-size city with a population of some 170,000 residents, located about one hour’s train ride south of Tokyo, beyond Yokohama, in Kanagawa Prefecture. It is nestled in a valley surrounded by wooded hills to the north, east, and west, and bordered by the coastal waters of Sagami Bay to the south.
Kamakura is famous for its historical temples, shrines, and gardens, along with pristine beaches and a range of forested hills and mountains, to which visitors flock in their tens of thousands every year from all over the world. They come to discover the city’s rich cultural heritage as well as its extraordinary natural beauty.
In the 13th century, some eight hundred years ago, Kamakura was the de facto capital of Japan, the seat of government under the country’s first shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo. The Kamakura shogunate ruled the country from 1185 until 1333. This system of military government continued until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
Peter Oxley photographs the snowfall of Kamakura, in and around Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and the approach along Dankazura on Wakamiya Oji Boulevard, January 2022.
For the visitor, Kamakura represents a step back in time to a bygone era (1185-1333). Of samurai and Zen temples—Kamakura gives the visitor a different perspective from the big, modern, high-tech cities of Japan. It not only succeeds as an amazing day-out, but it also helps to give the visitor an insight into Japan and an understanding of what it means to be Japanese. The Japanese are a very insular race steeped in tradition and a way of life deeply influenced by the bushido, the Samurai Code of Honor.
Numerous luminaries from the film world and Japan’s literati moved into the Kamakura area in the early twentieth century. Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972, author of Snow Country, The Sound of the Mountain) lived for a while in Hase; Osamu Dazai (1909-1948, author of The Setting Sun, No Longer Human) had (female) connections in the city; and Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963, director of Tokyo Monagatori, Late Spring), the country’s most illustrious filmmaker, lived in Kita Kamakura, not far from Shochiku Studios.
Besides, Kamakura has four well-defined seasons. It is popular for hiking, sightseeing, swimming and surfing in the summer months, and the many cultural events and festivals that are related to the temples and shrines. We even have a Noh Theater.
There are many beautiful seasonal flowers and a great diversity of local products and venues in which to taste their culinary delights.
It could be said, and it should be said, that it is history that holds this city together. The people of Kamakura are proud of their heritage.
For book preview, visit this link: https://www.blurb.com/books/10680609-kamakura-mon-amour
To order, click on the information or cart icon above the book image in the link
The author and another TheDiarist.ph contributor Virgil Calaguian enjoying churros during a pre-pandemic visit to Metro Manila.
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