Shichirigahama

Its dark sands are rich in iron ore which allowed Kamakura to become a florid center for the production of swords and knives.

Unlike its easterly neighbor Yuigahama, its floor drops too quickly, so it is not very popular as a sea resort, but surfers are present in every season.

[2] It was also the scene of many battles, and records show that in the Edo period bones and rusty weapons were still being recovered from its sand.

[3] Minamoto no Yoritomo's famous younger half-brother Yoshitsune, celebrated in Japan in Noh and Kabuki plays for both his bravery and his death, served the shōgun faithfully for years, leading the Minamoto clan in defeating the Taira clan, but for several reasons couldn't avoid a confrontation with him.

According to the legend, being unable to defeat Kamakura defenses on land, he went down to Shichirigahama and, at the impassable cape of Inamuragasaki, prayed to the god Ryūjin to withdraw the waves and let him through.

The stele at Sode no Ura (袖の浦), the tiny bay west of Inamuragaki, reads:[6] 666 years ago on May 21, 1333[7] Nitta Yoshisada, judging Kamakura's invasion on land to be difficult, decided to try to bypass this cape.

This is because one of the shogunate's execution grounds was in Katase near Fujisawa in the spot where now Ryūkō-ji is, so, when Nichiren was condemned to death, he had to be brought there.

[9] A miracle however saved him, because when he was about to be beheaded (an event known to Nichiren's followers as the Tatsunokuchi Persecution (龍ノ口法難)), lightning struck his executioner.

[11] One legend says that, during the Edo period, on it stood a pine tree which shook even when there was no wind, producing an extremely pleasant sound as if a celestial creature was playing an instrument.

[11] According to another, the founder of the shrine, who was a Kamakura period samurai called Sasaki Moritsuna, saw the pine tree move very slightly and emit sounds like those of a koto, so he gave the cape its name.

"It is said that the lord of Japan from the beginning, Amaterasu Ōmikami, enshrined at Ise Jingū, hid herself within a Vairocana and appeared as Ryūjin of the vast blue seas.