Kamakura's liveliest pedestrian street with 250 metres of craft, sweet and food shops; free stroll.
Komachi-dori is the commercial and gastronomic artery of Kamakura, a 250-metre pedestrian street running from Kamakura station to the second torii of the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine. With more than a hundred shops on both sides, Komachi-dori is the best place in Kamakura to buy local crafts —sakura-wood carvings, Daruma figures, Kamakura-bori ceramics and amulets— and to try the typical food: freshly toasted sembei (rice crackers), shirasu (anchovy fry, the region's coastal speciality), red-bean monaka and matcha ice cream. In spring the street fills with cherry blossom from the neighbouring gardens; in summer the festival lanterns tint it red and orange. The atmosphere is very different depending on the time: quiet first thing in the morning, full of life at midday and lively until 18:00-19:00. Access is completely free. It is the most natural route between Kamakura station and the central shrine.
