Enoshima Outer Shrine Hetsunomiya

Enoshima has three shrine areas. They are dedicated to the Lucky Goddess Benzaiten and a specific myth related to the Enoshima area. Along with that, you can find places to wash your money in hopes it will increase. It is expected that you donate your washed money, saisen, by tossing it into the saisen-bako.

Meet Gozuryu, the white dragon that fell in love with Benzaiten.

Images of Gozuryu can be found all over the island.

One of the many shrines on the island. Hetsunomiya originated in 1206 by order of Minamoto no Sanetomo, third shogun of Kamakura shogunate. It was rebuilt in 1976. The shrine is dedicated to one of the three Munakata kami, the goddess Tagitsuhime.

But you can't miss Benzaiten here with the biwa shaped ema, prayer plaques.

Along with Gozuryu omamori charms.

The woven hoop is a chinowa, which worshipers can pass through to become purified.

Leaving the bad luck fortunes, omikuji, behind.

There was even a Tanabata booth for offering your wishes.

Another building at this level is the Hoanden.

This octagonal shaped building is like a honden, in that it houses a kami. In this case it is Benzaiten. Unlike most honden, this one is open for a small fee. Inside one can view two statues of Benzaiten, the eight armed Happi statue and the Hadaka statue. It was really interesting to see and experience.

There are so many other shrines on the island. This is the Yasaka Shrine.

One of the many komainu on the island.

Really nice views here. Below is Nakamise Street, Enoshima Bentanbashi, and Fujisawa in the distance.

I do not know the name of this Shinto shrine. It is for Inari, there was a really small kitsune fox statue on one side.

I have seen mention of the cats of Enoshima. Yes, there were cats.

A biwa shaped map of the shrines of the island. A biwa is the stringed instrument Benzaiten plays.

And a look at the Enoshima Yacht Harbor.

After exploring this level, it was time to ascend another escalator. What is at the top is in my next post.

Ikosan Homyoji Temple

 One of the Buddhist temples in the Zoshigaya area is Ikosan Homyoji.

The main entrance has the impressive Sanmon gate.

The entrance leads into a nicely wooded temple ground. 

 With displays of stone markers

and stone lanterns, toro.

 The Hondo, main hall, has an air of older design. This temple founded around 810, but the structures are post-war so they are not that old.

 Still the design has a nice flow to it, perhaps reflecting back to prior incarnations of the building. Homyoji is a Nichiren Buddhist temple.

The bell here is popular with it's unusual designs of scales and abacus on it. This is also one of the top spots in Tokyo to ring in the new year.

Something else that makes this temple area popular is cats. 

I did see a number of cats at various temples and shrines including at Homyoji. 

Along with lovely sakura beginning to bloom. 

I have a feeling this temple is very beautiful when all the trees flower.

Visiting the Maneki Neko Ten Years Later

Since it had been ten years since I visited Gotokuji Temple, I was curious to see how one part of it was.  

This part of the grounds looked almost the same as it did ten years ago. 

I was wondering if there were changes because in the ten years this has become a popular place for tourists to visit. This being the Maneki Neko Temple. 

 Lots of ema with prayers being offered. Interesting that a number were in English. More than I've seen at most other shrines.

Cute version for this year, the year of the dog. 

 And one with horses on it. Since year of the horse was 2014, it's possible this ema has to do with wanting strength since horses represent strength or perhaps because horses were offered to shrines and often used on ema as a way to speed their prayers to the kami.

The other way people offer their prayers to this temple is also very popular. I thought I would check out this area again to see if there were any changes.

And it had. In that the number of maneki neko statues has greatly increased. From from one set of shelves to this. 

So many cats. Even up in the rafters. 

Wrapping around the bottom of the fence.

And over to the building. Even tiny ones on the shelf supports. 

So many cats. For a look at this ten years ago, here is my blog post from that visit http://blukats.blogspot.com/2011/04/gotokujis-maneki-neko.html