page_title: Kamakura's Seven Entrances
section_title: The Kamegayatsu Pass
hierarchical_section_title: Kamakura's Seven Entrances / The Seven Entrances / The Kamegayatsu Pass
caption_attribution_description: English: The Kamegayatsuzaka Pass, Kamakura side. 日本語: 亀ヶ谷坂切通し （扇ガ谷側）
context_page_description: The city of Kamakura, Kanagawa in Japan, is closed off on three sides by very steep hills and on the fourth by the sea: before the construction of several modern tunnels and roads, the so-called Seven Entrances, or Seven Passes were its main links to the rest of the world. The city was therefore a natural fortress and, according to the Azuma Kagami, it was chosen by Minamoto no Yoritomo as his base specifically for this reason. The name itself seems to have been modeled on that of Kyoto's Seven Entrances —sometimes translated as the seven "mouths"—which first appears in the literature of the intermediate Muromachi period. Together with the other "numbered" names like "Kamakura's Ten Wells" and "Kamakura's Ten Bridges", the modern "Seven Entrances" is an Edo period invention probably concocted to stimulate tourism. The Azuma Kagami calls them simply -zaka: Kobukurozaka, Daibutsuzaka, Gokurakuzaka, etc. Besides these seven, there were always other mountain roads that connected Kamakura with, for example, Kotsubo and Shichirigahama. There is one, for example, that connects Kaizō-ji in Ōgigayatsu with Kita-Kamakura Station.
context_section_description: The name Kamegayatsu Pass (亀ケ谷坂) first appears in the Azuma Kagami in 1180. The Kamegayatsu Pass  connected the area of Ōgigayatsu (north-west of today's Kamakura station) to Chōju-ji in Yamanouchi (Kita-Kamakura), near Kenchō-ji. Its name comes from the fact it's so steep a turtle wouldn't be able to go up without turning over. It has been declared a historical landmark.
caption: The Kamakura side of the Kamegayatsu Pass
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