さょなら

The following day a plane would take me halfway round the globe and I could start re-dreaming my dream again...


さょなら

Ginza

By the time the play finished it was dark outside. I strolled slowly to the subway, along an avenue towered by numerous buildings advertising the leading brand names in fashion and cosmetics. The bright and colourful Patchinko parlours tried to distract me, but after the wonderful experience of the Kabuki, I took in this modern part of Japan most consciously as one facet of a complex but very fascinating culture.

Kabuki

It is amazing how much you can experience on a special day when the hours do not fly by as usual but for once time seems enough for something else. My last day in Japan was such an exceptional day

Back in Tokyo, a quick refreshing bath and I was on the road again. My pilgrimage to Enoshima had been remarkable but another highlight was still to come, a performance of the Kabukiza theatre, on of the oldest and most traditional Japanese art forms.
When I located the theatre in the Ginza district a few days ago and learnt that this landmark of Tokyo's cultural life is under threat to be pulled down in order to give way to yet another high-flying commercial site I was determined to see a play.
A whole performance seldom lasts more than 3 hours and you can go and see just one act if you wait at the box-office for tickets during the interval.
A Kabuki play is usually about historical events or moral conflicts in love relationships. As the flyer handed out to me at the box office gave the gist of the act, I did not rent an English headphone but listened to the strange sound of the old fashioned language spoken with a monotonous voice and accompanied by traditional instruments. The choreography of the movements of the all-male cast adds to the drama of the play. Although I did not understand a single word I watched the whole act spellbound by the glamour, excitement and general extraordinariness.
Was I not lucky to find the true essence of Japan at the end of my visit?

Fishing

As I crossed the causeway to the mainland there were a few fishermen still out.
It was early November and although only mid afternoon the sun was not far from setting.
I walked the beach for a handful of sand to remind me in days-to-come of Enoshima and a very special day. There was a father and his two young sons, busy casting the line but their catch did not come up to their expectations.
The local train to Fujisawa was crowded with anglers heading back, they were sticking out with their long rods and small trolleys with more gear and hopefully some fish.
In Fujisawa travellers to the Metropolis change to JR trains. I only read much later that as early as a century ago a railway operated from here. How would pilgrims to Enoshima like Lafcadio Hearn feel when after covering quite a distance in a "kuruma" on rough rural roads they found themselves suddenly in the face of the most modern means of transport of their time.

Heading back

..."There is a charm indefinable about the place--that sort of charm which comes with a little ghostly thrill never to be forgotten. Not of strange sights alone is this charm made, but of numberless subtle sensations and ideas interwoven and inter-blended: the sweet sharp scents of grove and sea; the blood-brightening, vivifying touch of the free wind; the dumb appeal of ancient mystic mossy things; vague reverence evoked by knowledge of treading soil called holy for a thousand years."(Lafcadio Hearn)

I could not agree more, Enoshima is a special place which in all the hustle and bustle of modern days gives you still a feeling of old Japan.
It was time for heading back but not before I had a light refreshment in a small inn by the roadside.

Ryuren no Kane

The further up I walked on Enoshima the fewer people I met. When I turned left strolling through the Tatsunogaoka woods I was almost on my own. At the end of the lonely path through the trees which leads to a cliff overlooking the ocean, I found a pavilion with a bell built as late as the 1960s by the Tourist Association. Reading the noticeboard I was once more surprised about the richness in legend and spiritual history of the island. As the legend goes, once upon a time a bad dragon with five heads tormented the people of the prefecture. For many days dense clouds developed over the sea while heaven and earth quaked violently. Suddenly a heavenly maiden appeared, the clouds cleared and the island of Enoshima was born. No wonder the dragon fell in love and even proposed but was only accepted when we he changed his bad manners.
Nowadays the heavenly maid is worshipped as Benten and the dragon as Ryujin. This romantic site commemorates their love and is said to be very popular. When I approached it I watched a middle aged couple looking out to sea and ringing the bell together, so vowing each other eternal love.





I was puzzled to see hundreds of padlocks, with initials and messages all over, locked to the fence in front of the structure as I have never seen love locks before. This beautiful spot certainly inspires couples to attach them here as symbols for their love.

Iwaya Cave?

A little further and as the path splits I had to come to a decision. Enoshima is a small islet with only about 4 km in circumference. Sometimes called the Japanese Mont-Saint-Michel you have to climb up quite a few flights of stairs and walk along a winding path before you reach this point. How long would it take me to get back to the train station and how good was the connection between the local private service and JR? I had to be back in Tokyo not too late. As much as I would have liked to see the backside of the island, the famously depicted cliffs, the rocky shore with tidal pools and caves, the descend to Iwaya Cave, the residence of the guardian deity of the sea and weather, almost certainly would be steep and rough. Surely not as slippery as in Lafcadio Hearn's time but with "unearthly music and light", modern sound effects and light, the divine mood would be spoilt.
Another time - another dream...
Therefore I turned to the left.

Wadatsunomiya

Nearby a small cave-like building enshrines a dragon as pointed out by a wildly gesticulating species turned into stone. I am not sure about its relation to the legends of Enoshima. Is it Ryujin, the mythological dragon god of the sea to whom the faithful send prayers for their wealth?

Okutsunomiya

The third building of the Enoshima Jinja, Okutsunomiya (Shrine in the Depth), is situated further away in the Western part of the small island. It is believed to be an Otabisho, a resting place for the goddess Tagirihimenomikoto during the heat of summer.
The Torii at the entrance was donated by Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1182, the founder and first Shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate of Japan, a proof of the importance and antiquity of the site.
The Bronze Statue of Kengyo Yamada, to whom a special style of Koto music is related, reminds us that Benten, the goddess of the island, is also patron of music.
Legend tells of a giant, sacred turtle which inhabited the cave below the shrine. No wonder, the surrounding grove on Kinkisan, the "Hill of the Golden Turtle" is "turtle ground", a sacred stone and other features resemble one of the totems of Enoshima.



The brown and grey wooden structure of the Jinja rebuilt in 1842 blends harmoniously in with the green trees.
On the ceiling of the Shrine's divine gate Hoitsu Sakai, an artist of the Edo period, painted "Happo Nirami no Kame". What else but a picture of a turtle, a masterpiece, strange and unusual as the turtle, glaring in all directions seems to return your gaze, regardless which angle you look at it from.

A Glimpse of the Enoshima Cliffs

Once I reached the top the narrow lane, lined occasionally with inns and private houses, continued. There are a lot more sites of interest, a modern Buddhist temple, the Observation Tower, to mention but a few. While walking on I caught a glimpse of the impressive cliffs of the island which have inspired ever so many artists since centuries.

Nakasunomiya

The path to the sacred sites has improved tremendously since the late 19th century. Several more flights of stairs and a meandering lane leads slowly further up the hill. At the end of a path between impressive stone lanterns donated by famous Kabuki actors of the Edo period, you come to the second building of the Enoshima Jinja. Nakatsunomiya ( Shrine at the middle) dating back to 853, was rebuilt in the 17th century and remodelled in 1996 . The bright beautiful vermilion wooden Jinja enshrines Ichikishimahimenomikoto, the same goddess as in Itsukushima, Miyajima



Carvings of the islands ubiquitous totems, the dragon and the turtle are rich embellishments to the lintels.

Hetsunomiya

At the end of the shopping mall a wooden torii and a steep flight of stairs leads up the sacred hill. On the first level overlooking the rooftops of the island you can view the yachts mooring beneath in the harbour built in 1964 for the 18th Olympic Games in Tokyo. All along the path donated stone monuments indicate the prosperity of the pilgrims to the holy island or hint at the mystical character of this home of gods and other supernatural beings.

A dream in a dream: if I ever happen to be in Japan for Hatsumode, I would visit Enoshima Jinja which actually consists of three separate shrines, each dedicated to one of the goddesses of the sea.

At the top of the first terrace the main Shrine of the Jinja, Hetsunomiya (Shrine on the Edge) which enshrines Tagitsuhimenomikoto, goes back to the early 13th century and was only rebuilt in 1976:



There is a certain way you should pass through the huge ring of thick cogon grass and circumvent - a rite of purification before approaching the main hall. The octagonal Hoanden, next to it houses one of the three most famous statues of Benten in Japan:




The goddess, patron to music, fine arts and literature, who descended from the heavens to fight a dragon is also popular as the only women out of 七福神 , the Seven Gods of Good fortune.

Lafcadio Hearn on his visit to Enoshima in 1890 lamented that he was unable to see the image of Benten. When Buddhism and Shintoism were syncretized the originally Buddhist goddess was venerated on ground demarcated by torii. But when Shinto was purged of Buddhist elements in late 19th century the famous statue was gathering dust in storage.

Enoshima

Enoshima, the holy island, sacred to the goddess of the sea, known for pilgrimages for centuries is still popular for family outings nowadays. As for us Europeans the Eiffel Tower, Enoshima seems to be a major tourist attraction for the Japanese. But strangely enough none of my modern guidebooks has -if at all- any satisfactory information about this small island. Perhaps most Western tourists do not reach past Kamakura. Having read Lafcadio Hearn's "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan" I was determined to follow his "Pilgrimage to Enoshima" - and I did not regret it.

In his days you had to watch the tide to cross over to the island which is now attached to the mainland by a causeway. But as soon as you walk through the entrance of Enoshima, the weathered Bronze Torii, you feel familiar with the place.


Just as Lafcadio Hearn describes it, the street leading up to the shrines is "lined with taverns and shops" and all of them invite you to stop and call.

Enoden Line

With just over 24 hours before departure from Japan I decided not to follow my early 20th century guide, Lafcadio Hearn faithfully. I did not stop at Kamakura, not even for Dai Butsu, one of the most famous sights of Japan, the great Buddha. Instead, the little 2-car electric train of the Enoden Line, a private railway, took me in less then half an hour to Katase-Enoshima Station. What a change from the days of jinrikishas...