Enoshima Island - July 25, 2020

I am officially MONTHS behind on blog posts and I don't see that changing anytime soon. We are keeping ourselves busy and most nights am too exhausted to create posts. I apologize and promise I will eventually get caught up even if it means I am writing posts after we are back in the US. But, on to Enoshima Island...

We decided to explore Enoshima Island today. There is a lot to see and do on the island and we spent the entire day there. To get to the island we drove across the bridge shown below, another option would have been to take the train and then walk across the bridge.

There were people fishing off of the boardwalk and someone had caught an eel.

It was time to move away from the beach and start working our way up and across the island. We entered the grounds of Enoshima shrine and passed under the Zuishinmon Gate. Enoshims shrine consists of three parts (Outer, Middle, Inner) spread across the island.

I really liked the look of the lion-dogs (aka- shishi dogs/shisa/komainu) here. They are always in pairs and can be found guarding temples, shops, homes, and more. The female holds her mouth closed and the male has his mouth open.

We continued up the steps taking pictures along the way. We passed a statue of Benzaiten, the Japanese Buddhist goddess of wisdom, made in 1450. The legend is an evil dragon once lived in the area and terrorized the people who lived there. One day Benzaiten arrived and brought with her Enoshima Island. The dragon fell in love with her and wanted to marry her. But Benzaiten would not marry the dragon becuase of his evil past. The dragon began to do good things and eventually Benzaiten forgave him and married him.

The Outer shrine area, pictured below is called Hetsumiya. Three sister goddesses whom control the sea are enshrined there. It has copper roof and was built in 1620 and rebuilt in 1976.

Next we arrived at the Middle shrine area, Nakatsunomiya. It is pictured below and was built in 853. It would be a while before we saw the Inner shrine but, in the meantime, we were not bored....

As we continued exploring we couldn't help but notice the signs all over the island warning you about the hawks/kites that will swoop down and steal food from you. The hawks were EVERYWHERE!

There is an observation tower (the Enoshima Sea Candle) you can climb up to enjoy a 360 degree view from the center of the island. Since it was a cloudy day there wasn't much of a view so we decided to spare ourselves climbing additional steps.

We took a lunch break for pizza and gelato. I have to say it was one of the best pizzas I have ever eaten. We then headed over to the the Samuel Cocking Garden and the first thing we saw was this beautiful Chinese style pavilion.

I enjoyed exploring the garden.

There wasn't too much blooming while we were there. However, I loved these hanging terrariums. I will have to find a way to incorporate this idea into a future garden.

It was time to move on from the garden and continue exploring the island.

Our next stop was at the Enoshima Daishi, a Buddhist temple with impressive guards.

There was a small, but pretty, garden off to the side of the temple.

We moved on from the Daishi and eventually stopped at the Yama Futatsu overlook to watch the hawks ride the air currents for a while.

I don't know the significance of the statue shown below but there was something about it I liked.

The following three pictures show close up shots from various aspects of the Inner Shrine. Apparently I did not take a picture of the shrine itself. Full disclosure... I suspect the reason I did not get a picture of the shrine was because of the orange cat below. The island is known for its resident fat cats and after half a day of looking this was the first cat (and only) I had seen. I had to get a picture of course and was thusly distracted.

Our next stop was Wadatsumi-no-miya, where Ryujin, the dragon god the sea is inshrined.

Next, we paid a visit to the Love Bell. Couples ring the bell to receive luck in love and leave locks on the fence.

The locks are removed yearly to prevent them from overloading the fence.

After working our way down a flight of about 250 steps we finally reached the opposite side of the island from where we had started. The area is called the Chigogafuchi plateau.

After some brief exploring we joined the line to go into the Iwaya caves.

The first cave used to be a training center for Buddhist monks, contains the Enoshima Jinja Shrine and has many very heavy looking statues. Imagine people hauling these heavy stone statues down here! It had to be quite the endeavor.

Rumor has it these caves extend all the way to Mt. Fuji.

We left the first cave and stopped to enjoy the view before heading to the second cave.

The second cave is dedicated the the dragon that used live here.

Once finished with the caves it was time to start the trek back across the the island to our car.

All it all, it was a long but fulfilling day. We had seen SO much it definitely felt worthwhile. Enoshima Island is a small island but it is jam packed with things to see and do.