For anyone visiting Enoshima Island, one of the cool sites to see is the Zuishinmon. While walking through the Benzaiten Nakamise Street (a busy street filled with restaurants, inns and shops), it will lead you to an area known as Monzen-machi (Temple Town).
And as you come near the vermillion colored torii which leads to the Enoshima Shrine Gatehouse known as Zuishinmon, which was modelled after the mythical Ryugu-jo (castle under the sea which was depicted in the Japanese tale “Urashima Taro”).
The gate leads towards Enoshima Shrine which was first built at Iwaya in 552 upon the imperial order of Emperor Kinmei. Today, three shrines called Hetsunomiya, Nakatsunomiya and Okutsunomiya, are collectively known as Enoshima Shrine, a name which has been around since the Shinto-Buddhism syncretism during the Meiji Period.
To the left is the legendary meteorite and below it, a pond.
To the left and right of the gate are the guardians which serves as the protectors.
There was construction being done right behind the left guardian. The building is the Enoshima Escalator which can be used for those who do not want to walk to the top.
There is a shop where people can put their wishes.
But before I go, I want to emphasize to everyone, if you choose to walk, which seems natural as one doesn’t want to miss a thing, you are going up hill. This is not an easy walk up and if your knees are bad, I don’t recommend walking to far high. Even if you do stairclimbing, which I do, it takes a lot out of you and there were times where I was just telling myself, of how challenging it was, even more challenging than going up Mt. Takao.
I think part of it is that Mt. Takao, it’s an open area where many people can walk up or down, but at Enoshima Island, your speed is based on the speed of others as paths on the stairs going up or down can be full of people.
Otherwise, take the escalator, which will make things a lot easier, but it does cost money to use.
In tomorrow’s post, I will discuss what can be seen beyond entering the Zuishinmon.
