, popularly known as Zeniarai Benten, is a

Shinto shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

, Japan. It is a small shrine, but the second most popular spot in Kamakura after

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū is the most important Shinto shrine in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The shrine is a cultural center of the city of Kamakura and serves as the venue of many of its most important festivals with two museum ...

. Zeniarai Benzaiten is popular among tourists because the waters of a spring in its cave are said to be able to multiply the money washed in it. The object of worship is a

syncretic Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus ...

kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

'' that fuses a traditional spirit called with the

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

goddess of Indian origin Sarasvati, known in Japanese as

Benzaiten is an East Asian Buddhism, East Asian Buddhist Dharmapala, goddess who originated from the Hindu Saraswati, the patroness of speech, the arts, and learning. Worship of Benzaiten arrived in Japan during the sixth through eighth centuries, mai ...

. The shrine is one of the minority in Japan that still shows the fusion of native religious beliefs and foreign Buddhism (the so-called '' shinbutsu shūgō''), which was normal before the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

(end of the 19th century). Zeniarai Benzaiten used to be an external ''massha'' of Ōgigayatsu'sThe ending "ヶ谷", common in Japanese place names and usually read "-gaya", in Kamakura is normally pronounced "-gayatsu", as in Shakadōgayatsu, Ōgigayatsu, and Matsubagayatsu. , but became independent in 1970 under its present name.

History and features

According to the sign at the entrance, Zeniarai Benzaiten was founded in 1185 ( Bunji 1) after

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...

(1147–1199), first of the Kamakura shōguns, on the day of the

Snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

in the month of the

The

, besides being an animal associated with Ugafukujin, is one of the symbols of the

Chinese zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the Chinese calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year (or duodenary) cycle. The zodiac is very important in traditional ...

, which is based on the Chinese

lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based on the solar year, and lunisolar calendars, whose lunar months are br ...

. Because the Japanese used a

, this date does not correspond to a specific month and day of the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

, and its exact identification depends entirely on the year. For details, see the article

Sexagenary cycle The sexagenary cycle, also known as the gānzhī (干支) or stems-and-branches, is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus amounting to a total of sixty years every cycle, historically used for recording time in China and t ...

. dreamed of ''

'' Ugafukujin. The ''kami'' told him that "In a valley to the northwest, there is a miraculous spring that gushes out of the rocks. Go there and worship (Shinto) ''

'' and (Buddhist) ''

hotoke The Japanese noun is a word of Buddhist origin and uncertain etymology. It has several meanings, all but a few directly linked to Buddhism. It can refer to: *A person who has achieved ''satori'' (state of enlightenment) and has therefore become a ...

'', and peace will come to the country. I am the ''kami'' of this land, Ugakufujin." Yoritomo reportedly found the spring and built a shrine for Ugafukujin, a ''kami'' whose symbol is a snake with a human head. In reality, however, while the existence since that time of the spring and of the tradition linked to it is certain, that of the shrine is not. Edo period topographical documents attest that the area from where Zeniarai's water springs was called , but does not mention the shrine. Analogously, the , a

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

topological survey, mention one but not the other, and it is likely therefore that the shrine was built sometime in the late 19th century. Zeniarai Benten Kamakura washing 10000 Yen

Zeniarai Benten Kamakura washing 10000 Yen

The tradition of washing money at the spring in the hope of seeing it multiply was born in 1257 (

Shōka is a form of ''ikebana''. Written with the same ''kanji'' characters, it is also pronounced and known as ''Shōka''. History The painter Sōami and the art patron and ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshimasa were supporters of the style as early as t ...

1) when Kamakura's ''

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the instr ...

Hōjō Tokiyori was the fifth shikken (regent of shogun) of the Kamakura shogunate in Japan. Early life He was born to warrior monk Hōjō Tokiuji and a daughter of Adachi Kagemori, younger brother of Hōjō Tsunetoki, the fourth shikken, and grandson of ...

came here to worship and recommended the faithful to wash their coins, saying that if they did so, they certainly would be rewarded by Ugafukujin, who would multiply them and grant their descendants prosperity. He himself did so, and people started imitating him, starting a tradition which continues to this day and is the reason for the shrine's popularity. Its spring came to be called and during the Edo period was considered one of the , noted for the quality of their waters.Kamakura has many "numbered" locality names like Five Famous Springs,

Kamakura's Seven Entrances 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 (''Nana-guchi''), or (all artificia ...

, etc. These are not traditional, but rather a creation of

Tokugawa Mitsukuni , also known as , was a Japanese daimyō, daimyo who was known for his influence in the politics of the early Edo period. He was the third son of Tokugawa Yorifusa (who in turn was the eleventh son of Tokugawa Ieyasu) and succeeded him, becoming ...

Shinpen Kamakurashi The is an Edo period compendium of topographic, geographic and demographic data concerning the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and its vicinities. Consisting of eight volumesTakahashi (2005:20) and commissioned in 1685 by Tokugawa Mit ...

, an

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

book and the first guide to Kamakura. The ''

shintai In Shinto, , or when the honorific prefix ''go''- is used, are physical objects worshipped at or near Shinto shrines as repositories in which spirits or ''kami'' reside.''Shintai'', Encyclopedia of Shinto ''Shintai'' used in Shrine Shinto (Jin ...

'' (the object of worship, which houses the ''kami'') is a stone snake with a human head, symbol of Ugafukujin, the kami of waters. The ''kami'' came to be identified and merged with Buddhist goddess

(

Sarasvati Saraswati (, ), also spelled as Sarasvati, is one of the principal Devi, goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of knowledge, education, learning, arts, speech, poetry, music, purification, language and culture. Together with the godde ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

) according to the then-dominant syncretic ''

honji suijaku The term in Japanese religious terminology refers to a theory widely accepted until the Meiji period according to which Indian Buddhist deities choose to appear in Japan as native ''kami'' to more easily convert and save the Japanese.Breen and Te ...

'' theory, which saw Japanese ''kami'' as no more than local manifestations of Indian Buddhist gods. Later, this syncretic entity came also to be associated with harvests, and now it is worshiped as a ''kami'' of prosperity. The shrine has dozens of

torii A is a traditional culture of Japan, Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred, and a spot where kami are welcomed and thought to ...

(Shinto gates), but also many Buddhist statues. The scent of incense, normally used only by Buddhist temples, is present. The reason is that Zeniarai Benzaiten is an uncommon example of the fusion of Buddhism and Shinto elements ( Shinbutsu shūgō) that used to be the norm in Japan before the

, when most shrines were forced to get rid of all their Buddhist objects. Zeniarai Benten is one of those which, unlike Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, were able to retain them. This 800-year-old shrine is unusual for several reasons, the first being that it is completely surrounded by high rock walls. Totally invisible from the outside, Zeniarai Benzaiten can be reached only through a tunnel (see photo above) and a narrow trail on its rear. Also, because it was built on irregular ground, its various buildings stand at different heights and are connected by stairs. The enshrines . Its most visited hall, the , dedicated to Ugafukujin/Benzaiten, is not a building but a cave. In it, water flows and the faithful can wash their bills and coins with sieves (available from the shrine counter for a small fee). There are also shrines dedicated to the

Seven Lucky Gods In Japanese mythology, the are believed to grant good luck and are often represented in netsuke and in artworks. One of the seven (Jurōjin) is said to be based on a historical figure. They all began as remote and impersonal gods, but graduall ...

(, upper shrine) and to the god of water (, lower shrine). A 1970 survey revealed a group of '' yagura'' dating back to at least the 10th centuryArtificial caves used as tombs during the

and

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

s above the shrine's tunnel (see photo above). Excavations revealed several Buddhist steles, which are now at the

Kamakura Museum of National Treasures The or Kamakura Museum or Kamakura National Treasure House is a museum located on the grounds of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū in Yukinoshita, Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The museum houses around 4800 objects from the Kamakura region includin ...

. Because of its convenience, the tunnel is now the ''de facto'' main entrance of the shrine, however it and its approach (''

sandō A in Japanese architecture is the road approaching either a Shinto shrine or a Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temple.Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version. Its point of origin is usually straddled in the first case ...

'') were built in 1958. The shrine's main approach is on the opposite side of the shrine, near the tea houses. Like the first, it is covered by several ''

'' donated by the faithful. It leads to a narrow road and then to the valley. In the past it was the only entrance to the shrine, and this seems to be the reason for the name "Kakurezato" (see above) given at the time to the area.

Notes

References

External links

''Kamakura Trip'' website
"Zeniarai Benzaiten (Ugafuku Jinja Shrine)" page (in English) {{Shinto shrine Shinto shrines in Kamakura, Kanagawa Shinbutsu shūgō