Kamakura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

     Kamakura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was first organized sometime during the Edo Period.  At first, the 33 temples were distributed across Kamakura County, a third of which belongs to Kamakura City today, another third of which to Yokohama, and the other third to Fujisawa.  After the Meiji Restoration, Haibutsu Kishaku (literally "abolish Buddhism and destroy Shakamuni”) was executed in many parts of Japan, and, in Kamakura County, many of the 33 temples were either abolished or relocated.  By the mid-20th century, 23 temples had been replaced, and all the 33 temples today are now distributed within Kamakura City only.  Kamakura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage has become the most compact 33 Kannon pilgrimage (5 kilometers north and south, and 6 kilometers east and west) in Japan, and you can make the pilgrimage within a day or two.  In Kamakura, it is believed that if you visit the Kannon temples on August the 10th, it will be worth 46000-day visits.