Today will be a "quick" recap of my trip to Enoshima Island back on Oct. 13, I think.(The usual disclaimer and apologies for format, grammar, photography, etc.)
Two main things to know about the island- 1) There is a lot of folklore related to it and 2) there are a lot of stairs.
Enoshima is a small isalnd that is part of the city of Fujisawa. It sits at the mouth of the Katase River which flows into Sagami Bay. The island, while considered the beginning of the resort area, is entirely dedicated to the goddess of music and entertainment, Benzaiten, who according to the Enoshima Engi, made it rise from the bottom of the sea in the 6th century. The Engi, written in 1047 AD by Kokei, the Japanese Buddhist monk, tells the tale of prehistoric villagers who were plagued for a period of some thousands of years by a destructive, five-headed dragon (Gozuryu:五頭竜)that had its lair in a bottomless lake in Fukasawa, Kamakura. In 552, Benzaiten, aware of their suffering, caused the island to arise out of the bay to serve as her abode. After she descended to the island, Gozuryu fell in love with the beautiful goddess and asked her to be his consort (You may be questioning how such a couple would work. I have no idea.). Benzaiten, apparently known for her "persuasuive eloquence" (something I will never possess), refused the dragons proposal (poor guy) and made him understand all the wrong he was doing. (Way to go, break the guys heart and then tell him what a bad dude he is.) Ashamed before the goddess he loved, Gozuryu promised to change his ways and worked hard for the people. Finally, he landed the girl, but eventually came to his death, upon which he promised the heavenly maiden that he would protect the island and the people forever. So naturally, he became a mountain facing the South towards Enoshima.
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| Bridge to Enoshima |
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| Depiction of the other man? |
It was insanely crowded, which did not bode well for my crowd anxiety, but I think the island is adorable. We were met by a tourism lady who was nice enough to give us an English map and give us a brief summary of what there was to do. Definitely helpful, but since the island is so small and there is really only one pathway to take, it was also probably totally unnecessary. But I'm grateful nonetheless.
Remember our once heartbroken then ashamed then loved, five-headed friend, Gozuryu? Well, there are definitly tons of dragons on this island and even on the way to the island. However, I have noticed that they in fact do not have 5 heads...did Benzaiten originally turn down Gozuryu cause she actually had a one-headed dragon she fancied? Hmmmmmm?
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| Entrance to Enoshima-jinja Hetsuno-miya |
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| Another one-headed dragon... |
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| This one was popular. |
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| Part of Sagami Bay, the Olympic Harbor in 1964 |
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| I was born and bred an Atlantic girl, but the Pacific is undoubtedly gorgeous. |
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| The Sea Candle |
The south side of the island is known as Chigogafuchi. It is an ablation plateau about 50m wide. As the tide is out, the area is covered in active tidal pools and children chasing all the little sea creatures. A beautiful place to sit and drink a cold beer until the creepy little shrimp start scampering towards you. They scared me.This area is also the scene to the tragic, forbidden love story of Shiragiku, a servant of Sojo-in and Jikyu of Kencho-ji Kotoku-in. Jikyu, finishing up a one hundred day pilgrimage at Enoshima, met a handsome young servant of the Sojo Temple while on his way down the stairs of Enoshima.
"The two fell in love and over the next two years Jikyu used the pretence of making pilgrimages to Enoshima to meet with his young love. But their love was forbidden and Shiragiku couldn’t stand to be away from his lover monk while he was at his temple.
The two made up their minds to commit shinjū - lover’s suicide or a double suicide. Shiragiku suggested that they jump from this spot, a spot where they had sat holding each other as they watched the sun set behind Mount Fuji.
Jikyu agreed and they held each other here for the last time. As the sun set behind Mount Fuji, Shiragiku sprang up and jumped off the cliff onto the craggy rocks below. Torn with grief for his love Jikyu followed him."
My favorite area was probably Enoshima Iwaya Cave, which has been gradually eroded by waves over a long period of time. The cave is composed of 2 caves, the first 152m long and the second 56m. The one cave tells the story of the heavenly maiden and the five-headed dragon. Now, we were unaware what was at the end of the cave. All we knew was that we heard people clapping, so we figured maybe a shrine of some sort...turns out it was a dragon statue and if you clapped your hands, light would flash. My clapping did not work.
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| Enoshima Shrine- the original shrine of the island (Also the triforce) |
The caves were lined with very old Buddhist statues, most of which, I believe, were found in the caves themselves. At the end of the other cave is the original Enoshima shrine. It was probably the best part--somewhat eerie.
I apologize for the bad photo. Caves are not easy to photograph for me.
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| Sweet, freakishly calm water and statues in the cave, complete with fish. |
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| Chigogafuchi |
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| This couple is matching and praying for their love. |
Last stop was the Ryuren no Kane - The Bell of Dragon's Love. It was built it honor of the legend of Benzaiten and Gozuryu. People com here to ring the bell and pray for their eternal love.
The bell is also surrounded by those love lock things that people do. Just so you're aware.
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| Look at all this love that has been locked up! |
And at this point the sun began to descend and so did my energy. As I said before, this island has SO MANY stairs. So many stairs that you can pay fare to use an escalator instead! Seriously!? Seriously.
As we headed back to the mainland, I realized I could finally see the ever elusive Fujisan. I call these the money shots.
ALSO: WTF are these spiders!? They are everywhere in Japan. They are the things of nightmares!
