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.