(Leaf 7) – Looking Back
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| Shinobazu no ike, Benten-dō (December 2003) |
The Benten-dō is a small temple/shrine, often found in Japan sited on islands surrounded by water. The Goddess Benten or Benzaiten (meaning ‘Goddess of Eloquence’) is a Japanese Shintō-Buddhist incarnation of the Hindu Goddess, Saraswati. A Dharmapala, or Dharma Protector, she is seen as a benevolent protector and patron of the arts – often associated with water, snakes and dragons, she is usually depicted holding or playing a musical instrument known as a ‘biwa’, a kind of lute. She is honoured as a water deity. Long ago she became syncretised with Ichikishima-hime-no-mikoto, one of the three daughters of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, and also with Ugajin, a snake ‘kami’, or spirit in Japanese Shintō. As such, she is associated with many locales in Japan, perhaps most notably the tidal island of Enoshima. There is also a Benten-dō situated on an island in the midst of Shinobazu no ike, in Tokyo’s Ueno district. The pond, which long ago was once thought to have been formed by an inlet from the sea that has long since been marooned and now languishes serenely as a landlocked urban haven for numerous species of waterfowl. Famous for its flowering lotus beds – the lotus being a representative symbol of Buddhism – it is also a special place for me, imbued with many memories, both happy and sad.
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| Shinobazu no ike, Lotus bed (June 2004). |
Lotus blooms
flower and fade –
around the Benten-dō.
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| Shinobazu no ike, Lotus bloom (August 2004) |
