 Before the construction of several tunnels and modern roads that now connect it to Fujisawa, Ofuna and Zushi, on land it could be entered only through narrow artificial passes, among which the seven most important were called , a name sometimes translated as "Kamakura's Seven Mouths".The natural fortification made Kamakura an easily defensible stronghold.Before the opening of the Entrances, access on land was so difficult that the Azuma Kagami reports that Hōjō Masako came back to Kamakura from a visit to Sōtōzan temple in Izu bypassing by boat the impassable Inamuragasaki cape and arriving in Yuigahama.