Kamakura Komachi-dori Route

What Kamakura is

Kamakura is an old capital on the south of Kanagawa, facing Sagami Bay. A historic town that once held the samurai government, with Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, the Great Buddha, the sea at Yuigahama and the hills that ring it behind, it holds a particular calm. The stage for the food walk is Komachi-dori, the shopping street running from Kamakura station to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, its two sides packed with shops of shirasu (whitebait), croquettes, dango and Kamakura ham. In recent years, though, out of regard for crowds and manners, the street asks you not to eat while walking; buying and then stopping to eat at the shopfront or on a bench has become the local way.

Shonan's shirasu, and Kamakura's sweets

Say Kamakura and Shonan, and you say shirasu first. Fresh raw whitebait on rice as a raw-shirasu bowl, and "isoage" of fish paste fried with whitebait, turn the nearness of the sea straight into a plate. On the savoury side, the many kinds of Kamakura croquette, and the ham cutlet and sausage of a Kamakura ham house running since Meiji. The sweets are rich too: dango as colourful as temari balls, a matcha soft-serve you can choose the strength of, and the absolute classic Kamakura souvenir, Toshimaya's Hato Sabure (pigeon biscuit). Seafood and an old capital's sweets share one street.

How to walk this route

Start at Kamakura station. First, by the sea, a Shonan raw-shirasu bowl (though shirasu has a closed season, so mind the time of year). Then enter Komachi-dori and eat a Kamakura croquette, a shirasu-cheese tempura and a Kamakura-ham cutlet at the shopfront or on a bench. Slipping in a photogenic temari dango and a strong matcha soft-serve, walk the street toward Tsurugaoka Hachimangu. Finish at Toshimaya's main shop on Wakamiya-oji, with Hato Sabure for a souvenir. About two hours in all; eat little on the move and stop to taste — that is Kamakura's manner.

What to look for

The sea's signature is the raw-shirasu bowl. Translucent little fish shovelled down with ginger and garnish, its whole point is freshness. Maruten's shirasu-cheese tempura is a Kamakura-ish skewer of fish paste mixed with whitebait and cheese. On the savoury side, the many-kinds Kamakura croquette and Kamakura Ham Tomioka Shokai's thick-cut ham cutlet. Among sweets, Sakura-no-Yumemiya's temari dango and Kamakura Chacha's strong matcha soft-serve photograph well. And to close, Toshimaya's Hato Sabure, named for the pigeons of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu — a buttery baked biscuit, the one Kamakura souvenir.

Before you go

Kamakura is very crowded on holidays and in the autumn-leaf and cherry seasons, and Komachi-dori fills with people. For an unhurried meal, a weekday or the early morning is more comfortable. As noted, don't eat while walking; eat what you buy at the shopfront, an eat-in space or a bench. Raw shirasu has a closed season around January to March, and there is no catch on rough days, so check ahead if you are after it. Hours and closing days change, so it is safer to check before you go.