I really hoped to see a tropical island in the south of Japan, but Enoshima Island the southmost point of Kanagawa Prefecture, was the only feasible one that we could get to. My main goal was to get to the Enoshima Iwaya Caves which were much further than I imagined — up hills, down hills, upstairs, downstairs.. Things are always further than you think they are in Japan, it was pretty hot, and the path was unforgiving. We were hungry, but rushing as I was worried about having to walk the same path at night in the dark. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see many other areas on the island in detail, but I’m reading about some of them now. Here’s some photos along the way:
Usually, Enoshima is known for being a resort town where people go on vacations. The further we got onto the island, the less people there were. My main reason was to go to the caves. Records of the caves date back to 552 AD, when the emperor received an oracle that he should build a shrine in a cave on the island. After this period, many made religious pilgrimages to the island, and artists and writers such as Hiroshige, Hokusai and Basho admired the island. The caves have been eroded and carved away by tides for thousands of years and then elevated by repeated earthquakes. Below is a print of the island by Hokusai showing the pilgrimage route and Mount Fuji:
The island became a sacred place for religious training and people on the island were known to worship the goddess of music and entertainment, Benzaiten.
Here is an image on the opposite side of the island by Hiroshige called “Pilgrimage to the Cave Shrine of Benzaiten”:
It was a blazing hot walk across the bridge to the island behind hordes of school children. Little did I know this would be easiest part of my trip. I wish I brought my sumo parasol along to shield myself from the sun like the pilgrims in the image above. After passing through the Torii gate to the Town we walked the narrow streets that sloped around 60 degrees uphill, squeezing through school groups and tourists. At the end of the road there was a blazing red torii gate with a few flights of stairs.
After the gate, more and more sloped walkways and then it was all that same distance going downhill to the ice cave. Before we got to the downhill portion of our trip we passed the Okutsumiya shrine. Before we passed the shrine a pair of medics walked by us carrying a stretcher to help a man who was collapsed on the ground.
Finally, we made it to the far edge of the island and saw people out walking on the Chigogafuchi Abyss. This plateau was formed after uplift from the 1923 Kanto Earthquake, when most facilities were destroyed on the island after a tsunami and the island rose (possibly by about 2 meters). The abyss was named after a young Buddhist page who killed himself by jumping into the water here.
And at last, we made it to the entrance to the first cave:
It was interesting to see how the caves were braced with netting and paneling. Some panels channeled water away and around the walkway and others were sopping wet with water. The netting was added to protect against falling rocks after accidents in the 1970s. The caves were open again for visitors after renovations in 1993. Below is an image of how the caves were carved away by the ocean and then rose up as part of a tectonic shift.
The first part of the first cave was illuminated with candles and had exhibits about the area and cave formation. After passing over the bridge in the cave, we were given candles to explore the dark and narrow parts of the cave. It was pretty warm, wet, and stifling in there and you could not walk upright for long.
We had a brief walk outside to the second cave to areas with some amazing views. The route out was decorated with red pinwheels.
The big attraction in the second cave was a dragon that lit up and made sound. It caused a traffic jam.
The legend behind the island is that there was a dragon named Gozuryu causing all the earthquakes and violent storms in the area. When the storms cleared a maiden (the goddess of water eloquence, music and knowledge named Bensaiten) descended from the sky, touched the water and caused the island to rise out of it. The dragon fell in love with the goddess and asked to marry her. She would consider his proposal if he would change his ways and devote himself to protecting the area he once terrorized. And he did. He chilled out and changed into a hill on the south side of the island. And with a few exceptions, he has a pretty good record. We saw a lot of people surfing there, as it is easy to surf in that area:
We lucked out and made it to the last Bentenmaru ferry boat of the night. The boat also has a good view of the Mount Fuji side of the island. After we got off the island, I got to see the sunset from a Hawaiian restaurant with a view of Mount Fuji.
And took a couple of pictures of Mount Fuji on the island before we got in the boat.
Environment on the Move 