Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine, popularly known simply as Zeniarai Benten, is a Shinto shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. In spite of its small size, it is the second most popular spot in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture after Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū. 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 syncretickami which fuses a traditional spirit called Ugafukujin with the Buddhist goddess of Indian origin Sarasvati, known in Japanese as Benzaiten. The shrine is one of the minority in Japan which still shows the fusion of native religious beliefs and foreign Buddhism which was normal before the Meiji restoration. Zeniarai Benzaiten used to be an external massha of Ōgigayatsu's Yazaka Daijin, 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 after Minamoto no Yoritomo, first of the Kamakura shōguns, on the day of the Snake in the month of the Snake dreamed of kami 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 kami and hotoke, 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 kakurezato, but doesn't mention the shrine. Analogously, the Kōkoku Chishi, a Meiji period topological survey, mention one but not the other, and it is likely therefore that the shrine was built sometime in the late 19th century. The tradition of washing money at the spring in the hope of seeing it multiply was born in 1257 when Kamakura's rulerHōjō Tokiyori 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 Zeniarai-mizu and during the Edo period was considered one of the Five Famous Springs of Kamakura, noted for the quality of their waters.
The shintai, 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 Benzaiten according to the then-dominant syncretic honji suijaku 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, 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 that used to be the norm in Japan before the Meiji period, 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 the fact it is completely surrounded by high rock walls. Totally invisible from the outside, Zeniarai Benzaiten can be reached only through a tunnel 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 Naikū enshrines Ichikishima-Hime-no-Mikoto. Its most visited hall, the Okugū, 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. There are also shrines dedicated to the Seven Lucky Gods and to the god of water. A 1970 survey revealed a group of yaguradating back to at least the 10th century above the shrine's tunnel. Excavations revealed several Buddhist steles that are now at the Kamakura Museum of National Treasures." Because of its convenience, the tunnel is now the de facto main entrance of the shrine, however it and its approach 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 torii donated by the faithful, it leads to a narrow road and then to the Sasukegayatsu valley. In the past it was the only entrance to the shrine, and this seems to be the reason for the name "Kakurezato" given at the time to the area.
