Romanized Reading: Kasajima Benzaiten
English Translation: Bamboo Hat Island Benzaiten
Size: Small Side Shrine of Iwai Jinja
Deity: Benzaiten
Fox Count: 3 (carvings)
First Visit: 26-Apr-2018
Location: Tokyo-Ota
Address: 2 Chome-20-8 Ōmorikita, Ōta-ku, Tōkyō-to 143-0016
Another foxy side shrine of Iwai Jinja. This one is located on a small island in a small pond. For once, it is not an Inari shrine, but rather a shrine dedicated to Benzaiten, goddess of music, knowledge and everything that flows. Benzaiten is also one of the Shichifukujin (七福神 "Seven Fortune Gods"), the seven lucky gods of Buddhism. And yet, there's Shinto shrines dedicated to her and others of the Shichifukujin, which just goes to show how tightly interwoven Shinto and Buddhist fate are in Japan.
Anyway, there's no fox statues here, but a carving of a pair of foxes with a kit adorns the shrine just above the altar. Or at least it did back when I visited it in 2018, because recent images show a new and refurbished version of the shrine which sadly lacks the fox carving.
No comments:
Post a Comment