Here the shrine is Hetsu Miya (辺津宮), one of the shrines of the Enoshima Jinja complex; in the pond in front of the dragon, you can wash your coins for good fortune. The reason Enoshima is full of dragons is that because in the broader Fujisawa-Kamakura area, there is a legend, that of the heavenly maiden and the five-headed dragon that supposedly happened in the year 552: a five-headed dragon was roaming the area causing disaster until one day a young woman descended from the sky, the dragon fell in love with her and promised to change its ways if she would marry it --which she did. Depending on which version of the legend you hear, either the dragon or the girl was Benten, the deity to which Enoshima is dedicated in its entirety.
(For a bigger version of this picture both in color and black and white, check my "Japan Arekore 2" set on Flickr).
0 comments:
Post a Comment