Enoshima, Kanagawa, Nov.22, 2025
Riding Enoden line from Hase, Lunch at a local restaurant and Hiking Enoshima
On the middle day of this holiday weekend, we went to Kamakura getting on a train. We got out of the west exit of JR. Kamakura station. We had matcha Ice cream corns at a shop near the exit. The small square in front of the shop was crowed with holiday makers. We started walking the road along the city hall toward Hase-dera, Buddhism temple. On the way, we turned to left into a small road through a quiet residential neighborhood. Cars and bikes were passing us in a narrow road. I heard the sound of jet engines coming from the hill . Within a few minutes, I saw a Boeing 737 jet coming out from the other side of the mountain nearby and flying low above us toward west, which I later learned is a C40A, a military version of Boeing 737, transport aircraft of the US Navy heading to Atsugi Naval air-station. I’ve been to Kamakura and visited the Great Buddah many times. But we’ve never visited Hase Temple before though it is just around the corner. We run into a larger road which reaches to the beach. There were a lot of people walking on the side road. I think they are on the way to Enoden Hase station after visiting Kotokuin temple, famous for Great Buddha. This time, we would go to Hase temple skipping the Daibutsu sama, the Buddha. The temple, the 4th temple of the Bando Pilgrimage circuit, is known for the ten meter high standing statue of the Eleven-headed Bodhisattva of Compassion. I was simply blown away by the shining gold statue in the hall. We stopped by a music box shop near the temple, which displays large selection. I met a music box of Porco Rosso doll, which I have somewhere in the closet. We were supposed to walk around the area. However, we decided to go to Enoshima after we left Hase Temple. We headed to Hase Station.
It is noon. we felt a bit hungry. But we wanted to have lunch at Enoshima. The train came into the station at 12:37 with passengers full of the cars. I anticipated the cars would be crowded as many international tourists from Asia who are fans of popular anime series “Slum Dunk”. There were a lot of international visitors. But it was not that crowded. I was just watching the outside on the train car. Many of the passengers on the car got off at Enoshima. When we entered the exit, there are a lot of souvenir shops and restaurants on both side of the street to the beach side. In a couple of minutes we found a local restaurant on our left side. The large picture of their today’s lunch caught our eyes. ” Deep fried locally caught fish and Sashimi set menu”. We decided to have lunch at the restaurant “Chubei”, quite classic male name from Samurai era. We chosen a table outside and ordered that lunch sets and two jugs of Kirin beer. The set of deep fried fish and sashimi comes with a dish of boiled whitebait and grated radish, a miso soup, pickled vegetable and a bowl of rice. The deep-fried fish was Horse mackerel. The large fish are nicely fried. Sashimi was fresh. Shirasu, or whitebait is a specialty of this area of Shonan. We would boil them and eat over rice with grated horse radish and soy sauce. They spoil quickly. They would boil them as soon as whitebait were caught. Only fresh shirasu can be served. We had happy lunch time. We started to walk towards Enoshima.
It was some forty years ago when I visited this place on a field trip of my high. It was raining if I remember correctly. I did not remember anything now. Anyway, I’ve come back here as an old guy in his 60 years. I do not remember most of my last visit but I do still remember there were souvenir shops and restaurants on both sides of the approach to the shrine. I have no memory after that. Maybe we did stop there and did not go further. This time, we walked on and visited some other shrines in the island. The island enshrines three goddesses: Tagitsuhime-no-mikoto, Ichikisimahime-no mikoto and Tagirihime-no-mikoto. They are the three goddesses created as a result of the trial by oath (ukei) between Amaterasu and Susanoo. They are three daughters of Amaterasu, Sun goddess. Ichikishimahime, the youngest daughter, is regarded as Sarasvati, an Indian goddess of Water, who is worshipped as Benzaiten, one of the seven happy gods in Japan. Zuishin-mon gate was designed like Dragon palace under water in connection with the local legend of Ichikishimahime and the five headed dragon. The white gate reminds me of Coral leaves. It looks like a castle in the folktale of “Urashima Taro and the palace of dragon” where the five headed dragon is living. The legend has itIt was some forty years ago when I visited this place on a field trip of my high. It was raining if I remember correctly. I did not remember anything now. Anyway, I’ve come back here as an old guy in his 60 years. I do not remember most of my last visit but I do still remember there were souvenir shops and restaurants on both sides of the approach to the shrine. I have no memory after that. Maybe we did stop there and did not go further. This time, we walked on and visited some other shrines in the island. The island enshrines three goddesses: Tagitsuhime-no-mikoto, Ichikisimahime-no mikoto and Tagirihime-no-mikoto. They are the three goddesses created as a result of the trial by oath (ukei) between Amaterasu and Susanoo. They are three daughters of Amaterasu, Sun goddess. Ichikishimahime, the youngest daughter, is regarded as Sarasvati, an Indian goddess of Water, who is worshipped as Benzaiten, one of the seven happy gods in Japan. Zuishin-mon gate was designed like Dragon palace under water in connection with the local legend of Ichikishimahime and the five headed dragon. The white gate reminds me of Coral leaves. It looks like a palace of dragon in the folktale of “Urashima Taro. Legend has it that Gozuryu, the five headed dragon, lives in a lake in Kamakura, suffered people in the neighborhoods by causing floods and typhoons. One day, A celestial maiden descends and an island was born. That is Enoshima. The dragon fall into love and proposed her. However, his proposal was turned down first. Then he decided to reform his past misdeeds and won her love finally.
We visited Hetsunomiya, shirine of Tagitsuhime, the younger sister; Okutsumiya, shrine of Ichikishimahime, the second daughter and Nakatsunomiya, shrine of Tagirihimenomi, the eldest daughter. In the middle of Edo period when they enjoyed peaceful lives, excursions to Oyama and Enoshima became popular among people living in Edo, old name of Tokyo. Enoshima is located some 50 kilometers from Edo which can be covered in a 3 to 4 days round trip. The road to Enoshima is flat and it is within the same administrative jurisdiction as Edo.