Back to Benzaiten

That place in the distance was the Bentendo Temple at the Shinobazu Pond in Ueno Park. It is a Buddhist shrine dedicated to the Goddess Benzaiten. As at other Benzaiten shrines, the water spout for the chozubachi (water purification basin) is a dragon. It's Gozoryu, the dragon that Benzaiten subjugated. If you were wondering about Gozoryu, I wrote about him in my posts about Enoshima.

Another thing that relates back to Enoshima, the three triagles on the chozubachi. That is the emblem for the Hojo clan, which also appears on many shrines on Enoshima. They were the shoguns during the Kamakura period.

I have been here before in 2018. Similar weather, but more people this time.

This statue of Ugajin, the god of water, agriculture and good fortune, is new. It is reminiscent of the Ugajin statue at Inokoshira Benzaiten shrine. Again there is the three triangles of the Hojo clan.

After visiting with Benzaiten and making my offering, I walked to the back of the shrine.

Here is the honden, the building where Benzaiten is enshrined. It is octagonal like the Hoanden at Hetsunomiya Shrine on Enoshima.

I spent a bit of time walking around the shrine. There is a small shrine behind this locked gate. Unfortunately I do not know what it is. It may be Shinto.

One of several monuments around Bentendo Shrine. Someone mentioned this is a monument in memory of fugu fish. If I am ever here again, I will try to confirm this. Since usually there are monuments to fishermen at a number of Benzaiten shrines, and I wonder if this may be what this is dedicated to.

Jizo, dedicated to children who have passed away.

The front of Bentendo and the sun is shining!

The finial on top of Benzaiten's shrine, shining gold in the sunlight. 

Along the bridge going to Bentendo were a number of food booths selling a variety of items. The shaved ice was very popular.

Chocolate covered bananas reminded me of fairs in America.

Of course there was yakinuki of all kinds.

I wanted to try something, but was a little hesitant because of the hot weather. I don't know if the different meats were being kept cold. So I went with the "crab" sticks, since they would have been pre-cooked.

It wasn't bad. The view here made it a nice place to eat. In fact, that view was why I came to Bentando in the middle of Shinobazu Pond. Because there was something I had not seen before. And that will be my next post.