Day 31 - Fujisawa, A bit About Mokujiki Asceticism, And The Dragons In The Enoshima Caves, Walking The Tokaido Road In Japan
Day 31 - Fujisawa, A bit About Mokujiki Asceticism, And The Dragons In The Enoshima Caves, Walking The Tokaido Road In Japan
This morning we returned to Tsujido station, where we stopped walking yesterday.
The weather was lovely, and before starting our walk, Jules and I stayed to drink a hot drink at the Starbucks cafe in Tsujido, while Wendy and Joseph continued walking to a little museum in Fujisawa.
We made plans to meet them later down the road.
After the cafe, we found a great bakery with whole grain rye breads, which are hard to find in Japan.
Most bakeries make spongy bread that is soft or often sweet.
Then we walked to the Fujisawa Ukiyo-e Museum.
It is a small museum located on the top level of a commercial building, and they have an ongoing exhibition of the woodblock prints of Hiroshige #3.
Utagawa Hiroshige #3 was born in 1842 and passed away in 1894.
He was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who was a student of the famous Utagawa Hiroshige who originally created the paintings of the 53 stations of the Tokaido.
He was also known as Andō Tokubei, but he was born Gotō Torakichi.
It was common among Japanese artists and poets in those times to take on a name of their choice.
He first chose the artistic name Shigemasa, but in 1867, after Hiroshige #2, a fellow pupil of the original Hiroshige, divorced the master's daughter Otatsu, Gotō married her and initially took on the name Hiroshige #2.
Then two years after the marriage, he began calling himself Hiroshige #3.
Hiroshige #3 worked in the same artistic style as his master, but did not achieve anywhere near the same level of success.
Touring this museum, I thought that his work was very lovely.
It was absolutely fascinating to see his artistic take on the 53 stations of the Tokaido, and how the places had changed as progress, in the form of trains and other advances, forever changed the landscape of Japan.
Based on his artwork, I decided that it would be a good idea to make a detour from the Tokaido to go see the nearby Enoshima caves.
I texted Wendy that we should meet in Fujisawa station, where, if she wanted to, they could join us on this detour off the Tokaido, to visit the Enoshima Caves.
Wendy answered that they would like to come.
On the way to the train station, we walked through Fujisawa juku.
Fujisawa-juku became a post station on the Tokaido in 1601, and later Totsuka-juku and Kawasaki-juku were added, making it the sixth of the Fifty-Three Stations.
According to records, in 1843, the post station had a population of 4,089 people and 919 houses.
In addition to being a popular tourist spot where the Oyama and Enoshima roads branched off, the town prospered as a center for goods from the surrounding farming villages.
Even after it ceased to function as a post station, it thrived from the Meiji period through to the early Showa period, as a wholesaler town that took advantage of its location as a key transportation hub.
The town used to have two Honjin inns and two Wakihonjin.
The Edo Shogunate designated Honjin in each post town as private lodgings for government officials, feudal lords, and nobles traveling along the highway.
The Wakihonjin were auxiliary facilities to the honjin.
A Mitsuke, also called Doi, was the entrance to a post town, with stone walls built on both sides of the road.
Usually, they were located on both the Edo and Kyoto sides, and the length of the post town was measured from Mitsuke to Mitsuke, with Fujisawa-juku being about 1,340 meters.
We walked to Fujisawa Station where we took the local train to Enoshima island.
Enoshima island is now a very touristy place, but in the old days, it was a pilgrimage site for those seeking healing.
A signpost on the Tokaido signaled where the road branched out to Enoshima.
This signpost was built to ensure the safety of blind people, who were traveling to the Enoshima shrine during the Edo period.
Edo period woodblock paintings of this area, painted by Hiroshige Utagawa, showed that there was a Torii Gate of Enoshima Shrine, next to this signpost.
Both Wendy and Joseph and Jules and I have visited Enoshima island before.
Wendy said that on her previous visit, they didn’t go to the sacred caves, located on the opposite side of the island from the bridge entering the island.
It required climbing up and down many hundreds of steps, before we would reach the caves.
To cheer Wendy and Joseph up, I suggested playing a guessing game in which we first estimated how many steps were in the set ahead of us, then counted them as we climbed up.
Wendy won that game often by estimating the most amount of stairs, but even our clapping and cheering didn’t help remove the look of struggle on their faces.
The Enoshima Jinja Hetsunomiya shrine is actually composed of three shrines (Hetsunomiya, Nakatsunomiya, and Okutsunomiya) on Enoshima Island, but they are generally grouped together and called Enoshima Shrine.
The Enoshima Shrine enshrines three sister Goddesses.
The three Goddesses are Tagitsuhime no Mikoto, Takiribime no Mikoto, and Ichikishimahime no Mikoto.
They were born out of the mist created by Amaterasu’s bite of Susanoo’s sword.
The three goddesses are also associated with Benzaiten, the goddess of art, music, wealth, and eloquence.
Enoshima Shrine is one of the three major Benzaiten shrines in Japan.
Nakatsusunomiya shrine, which enshrines Ichikishimahime-no-mikoto, was built in 853.
It was later rebuilt in 1689.
The current shrine building, with its vivid vermilion color, was completely renovated in 1996.
The ceilings of the offering hall are decorated with paintings of flowers and birds, as well as carvings, and stone lanterns that were donated to the grounds by merchants, entertainers, and common people in the Edo period.
Girls who visited the shrine during the Edo period left posts saying:
“I want to fall in love with someone and something beautiful.”
“I want to be beautiful like the beautiful Benzaiten!"
"I want to be more beautiful and fall in love more gracefully."
Enoshima island was formed from the tuffaceous sandstone of the Tertiary Period, and many caves and pointed rocks were eroded by the wind and waves.
The beautiful peculiar shape of the island has attracted people for ages.
The second Enoshima Shrine, in the center of the island, enshrines Benzaiten Goddess.
Enoshima Benzaiten is one of the three major Benzaiten statues in Japan.
A wide range of society in Japan had faith in her as a goddess of peace, and she is also worshipped as one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune and artistic skills.
(Of course I said a prayer asking for developing my artistic skills and abilities.)
Her shrine was founded in 1206.
The present building was newly remodeled and completed in 1976.
During the Edo period, a wide range of society, including travelers, Kabuki actors, poets, painters, and the samurai clan, had faith in her and came here as pilgrims.
Enoshima Island is blessed with a beautiful natural environment.
There are old trees and beautiful mountain rocks that lead to wide sea views in all directions.
There is a pun called, “E•no•shima.” By changing one Chinese character of the name to one of a similar sound, it gives the meaning "A Picturesque Island".
The island is only 4km in circumference.
On a clear day, you can see views of the Shonan coast, the Miura Peninsula, the Izu-Oshima Island to the south, and of Mt. Fuji and the Hakone Mountains to the west.
On the bottom of Yama Futatsu (Divide between Two Mountains), there is a very small cave which is called the "Cave of Mokujiki Monks."
It was built with flat stones and it is only about one meter in height and about 80cm wide.
A stone statue of Amitabha Buddha was standing at the top.
Mokujiki is the term for ascetic practice, and it literally means “to live without the five cereals (rice, barely, foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, and beans).”
The self-discipline of Mokujiki is called Mokujiki asceticism.
The people who belong to Mokujiki asceticism are called Mokujiki monks.
Jules and I have visited remote mountain temples where the Mokujiki monks lived, and seen their mummies from the 8th century, still in perfect shape and not rotting, more than a thousand years after they left their bodies.
The monk’s bodies were never wrapped like the Egyptian mummies and they were always sitting cross-legged in a meditation posture.
The Mokujiki monks are Japanese Buddhist practitioners who abstain from eating grains and cooked foods, relying instead on foods gathered from the mountains.
They are known for their unique diet and ascetic practices, often associated with preparation for self-mummification by purification of the body, known as Sokushinbutsu.
Some Mokujiki monks also spend their days carving Buddhist statues, particularly the "Smiling Buddha" (Bisho-butsu).
Their diet primarily consisted of flour made from buckwheat or wild oats, mixed with pine bark, chestnuts, torreya nuts (conifers), and other wild plants.
Finally, we reached the biggest caves, dedicated to the dragon God.
Tokimasa Hojo and the Legend of the Dragon God:
“It is said that Tokimasa Hojo (a military commander, samurai) prayed by isolating himself in this cave for 35 days, for the prosperity of his descendants at the beginning of the Kamakura Shogunate.
The last night of his seclusion, a woman of angelic beauty appeared in front of him out of nowhere.
She said: “Your descendants are going to boost their prosperity and power for the good of Japan.
However, if they stray from the right path, your family will die out within seven generations."
While he looked at her, the beautiful figure transformed into a big dragon and disappeared into the sea.
At the place she appeared, he found the three big dragon’s skin scales.
He made his family's symbol with these scales to represent his delight at the fulfilment of his prayer.
People say that the Hojo family is still flourishing, even after seven generations, by the grace of the Dragon God.”
Another Enoshima legend tells the story of “The Heavenly Maiden and A Dragon with Five Heads (The Legend of Enoshima).”
“Once upon a time, a fearsome dragon with five heads lived in a bottomless lake and tormented the villagers.
Terrified, the villagers decided that they had to sacrifice an occasional child to the dragon.
One day, thick clouds rose up on the horizon and stayed for several days.
A strong earthquake shook the ground and the sky.
When the earthquake stopped, a heavenly maiden appeared.
Then the clouds were cleared, and an island appeared in the sea.
It is said that this island was Enoshima.
The dragon was attracted to the beautiful heavenly maiden, and proposed marriage to her.
But the heavenly maiden said that unless the dragon stopped its evil doing, she could never accept the proposal.
Then the dragon mended its ways and finally could marry the maiden.”
People say that the heavenly maiden in this legend is the goddess Benzaiten, who is still worshipped on Enoshima Island.
Today, a statue of a dragon is enshrined in the cave.
To light our way to the dragon, they gave us candles and asked us to mind our heads, as the dark tunnel is low in some places.
A more scientific sign explained the birth of Enoshima island:
“About 30 million years ago, most areas of Kanagawa prefecture were under the sea.
At that time the area around Enoshima was considered calm sea, and sand and mud piled up on the sea floor.
This layer is called the Hayama Layer.
About 25 million years ago, the Hayama Layer was raised like a mountain range from Mt. Tanzawa to Boso Peninsula through Enoshima and the Miura Peninsula.
Through the years. more layers of soil built up on top of the Hayama Layer.
Enoshima was raised several times, and it stayed above the sea, from about 70,000 years ago.”
A fascinating sign at the end of the cave that is not yet excavated said:
“This cave has long been believed to lead to the mysterious icy cave of Mt. Fuji.
You might feel a tender breeze that blows from deep inside the icy cave of Mt. Fuji.
This unique stone had been sculpted by the incessant flow of water over centuries.
Since it looks like the Laying down-shape of Saint Nichiren, people have considered it a divine stone.
Saint Nichiren was a high ranking priest of Nichiren Buddhism.”
We left this place of magic and legends and returned to the entrance to Enoshima.
Then we walked down the main road, lined with shops selling snacks and souvenirs.
It was crowded with people.
Then we returned to Fujisawa station.
I was feeling tired and congested with the flu, and now ready to sit and rest.
Just across the bridge from the station, Wendy asked me if we could go to another local train, because years ago she remembered it ran by the sea and was very scenic.
I showed her the map and told her that both trains to Fujisawa run north from Enoshima, and nowhere near the sea.
But she insisted, so I gave up, ignoring the looks I got from Jules, who told me before not to follow her suggestions, whenever I am sure that she is wrong.
Of course the local train was just a lot busier with school kids and locals, and ran nowhere near the sea.
We stayed in Fujisawa where we tried to get a seat in any of the Starbucks, but they were all packed with people, so we returned to our hotel in Yokohama.
I felt lucky that I was able to complete and enjoy the day, because I am still feeling sick with coughing bouts and lots of mucous.
But I did it!
And I really enjoyed the day too.
Sending you love and healing,
Tali
Today’s Stats:
Steps - 22,869
km walked - 15 km
Total walked: 579 km
Old Post Towns Visited:
Fujisawa Juku #6
