Enoshima ( 江の島 ) is a small offshore island, about 4 km (2.5 mi) in circumference, at the mouth of the Katase River which flows into the Sagami Bay of Kanagawa Prefecture , Japan. Administratively, Enoshima is part of the mainland city of Fujisawa , and is linked to the Katase section of that city by a 389-metre-long (1,276 ft) bridge. Home to some of the closest sandy beaches to Tokyo and Yokohama , the island and adjacent coastline are the hub of a local resort area.
8-599: The Enoshima Engi (江嶋縁起) is a history of the temples and shrines on Enoshima Island in Sagami Bay . It was written in Chinese , the scholarly language of the time, by the Japanese Buddhist monk Kōkei in 1047 AD. The Enoshima Engi consists of two separate parts. The first tells the story of the tribulations of prehistoric villagers who lived in the vicinity of Enoshima . The villagers were plagued for
16-479: A period of a thousand-some years by a destructive, five-headed dragon (Gozuryu: 五頭竜 ) that had its lair in a nearby lake. Aware of their suffering, on May 31, 552 AD, the Goddess Benzaiten caused the island of Enoshima to arise from the bottom of the bay to serve as her abode. She then descended onto the island amidst a series of spectacular terrestrial and aerial phenomena. The dragon fell in love with
24-668: A year. Enoshima is now the center of Shōnan , a resort area along the coast of Sagami Bay. Enoshima is served by three nearby railway stations: Katase-Enoshima Terminus on the Odakyū Enoshima Line , Enoshima Station on the Enoshima Electric Railway ("Enoden"), and Shōnan-Enoshima Station on the Shonan Monorail . Enoshima was the Olympic harbor for the 1964 Summer Olympics . Enoshima
32-595: Is enshrined on the island. The island in its entirety is dedicated to the goddess, who is said to have caused it to rise from the bottom of the sea in the sixth century. The island is the scene of the Enoshima Engi , a history of shrines on Enoshima written by the Japanese Buddhist monk Kōkei in 1047 AD. In 1880, after the Shinto and Buddhism separation order of the new Meiji government had made
40-403: Is known as Dragon's-Mouth Hill (Japanese: tatsu-no-kuchi yama 龍の口山). Although this story seems fantastic on the surface, it very likely contains many factual elements. The dragon, for example, is probably a metaphor for the water of a violent local river that is still notorious for its floods. Its five heads were probably four of the river's tributaries plus the mouth of the river. The descent of
48-399: The beautiful goddess and asked her to be his consort. Benzaiten, who was widely known for her persuasive eloquence, rejected the dragon's proposal and made it understand that it had been doing wrong by plaguing the villagers. Ashamed, the dragon promised to cease its wrongdoing. It then faced south (devotedly facing the island where Benzaiten lived) and changed into a hill. To this day, the hill
56-545: The goddess may have been inspired by aerial phenomena such as the passage of a large meteor. The second part of the Enoshima Engi relates visits to Enoshima by eminent monks. Among the visitors was Jikaku Daishi (慈覺大師), the posthumous name of Ennin (圓仁, 792-862 AD), the third chief priest of Enryaku-ji (延暦寺), the center of Buddhism in Japan . Enoshima Benzaiten , the goddess of music and entertainment,
64-485: The land available, much of the uplands was purchased by Samuel Cocking , a British merchant, in his Japanese wife's name. He developed a power plant and extensive botanical gardens including a very large greenhouse. Although the original greenhouse was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake , the botanical garden (now the Samuel Cocking Garden ) remains an attraction with over half a million visitors
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