Yesterday we went out to Enoshima which is a small island located in a bay in a resort area close by to the base. It was about an hour drive from base... mostly because of traffic lights and traffic but is was very scenic as most of it was along the water. Enoshima Island is actually dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten which is what brought us there in the first place to complete our stamps of the 7 Lucky Gods. Benzaiten, if you remember, is the goddess of music and entertainment and it is said she made the island rise from the bottom of the sea. *Fun fact alert: Enoshima was the Olympic harbor for the 1964 Summer games. Enoshima has a big shrine that has lots of stairs but beautiful views of the ocean all around. We passed lots of beaches on our drive there that was packed with surfers... at 10 AM on a Wednesday.... go figure!!!
It was all very scenic and I'm sure on a clear sunny day it would have been even nicer... AND we could have seen Mt. Fuji... but it was pretty cloudy! There is a lot of walking/hiking to do on the islad and you could spend a whole day there and not see everything... on the other side of the island (which we didn't make it to) there are caves you can hike through which I have heard are pretty neat!
The actual statue of Benzaiten is very small and you can't take pictures so I didn't even bother paying to go see since I have seen so many pictures online of what she looks like... I really was most focused on getting that last stamp to complete my beautiful page and now I can start looking for a frame so we can hang it up in our house!! At the top of the island there is a "lighthouse" of sorts that you can pay to go up in and see the views.... but it was way too hazy... so I'll save that for a sunny day... and hopefully on a day when Damian can come check it out too! There were botanical gardens there too, but we peeked through the fence to see all the pretty tulips in bloom!A very cool thing on Enoshima is the Ryuren-no-Kane (bell of Ryuren).
Once upon a time, an evil dragon with five heads fell in love with a beautiful heavenly maiden. The dragon cleaned up his act for his loved one and later his feelings came to a head (I don't know which of his 5 heads... hahaha... but you get the drift). This bell was made in 1996 based on the legend of a heavenly maiden and five headed dragon. It is said that couples who rung the bell together will stay together for eternity… Right under the bell is a fence and when couples visit the island together they are supposed to bring a padlock (and decorate it if you would like) and put your names on it and lock it to the fence... there were tons of locks there as you can see in the picture and we kept hearing the bell ring as we walked around! On my "to do" list... buy lock, jazz it up a little with some glitter, write our names on it... take Damian to Enoshima to ring the bell together and lock our love to the fence forever!!!!!!! Japanese Word of the Day:
Hana (ha-na): Flower
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