Shinto grotto where money is washed in sacred water to multiply it; free access, a mystical experience in a natural cave.
The Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku shrine is one of the most unusual and beloved places in Kamakura: a natural cavern in the rock of the Ogigayatsu hill, dedicated to Ugafukujin, a Shinto deity with the body of a snake and a human head, and to Benzaiten, the goddess of water and luck. Legend has it that in 1185 the shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo had a vision in which the deity told him to build a shrine in that cave, and that the water flowing from inside it had the power to multiply the money washed in it. Since then, thousands of visitors come to wash coins and notes in the bamboo baskets available at the water altar. The grotto has perpetual incense smoke, red paper lanterns and the damp darkness of a natural cave: the atmosphere is completely different from that of any other shrine in Kamakura. Access is free. It is reached from Kamakura station in 25 minutes on foot or 5 minutes by bus (Zeniarai Benzaiten stop). It combines well with the route to Kuzuhara-oka and Sasuke Inari.
