竹生島： Chikubu Island a Sacred Place for the Goddess Benzaiten

This week I  had some time to make a small pilgrimage to 竹生島　Chikubu Island.  It is a small Island in Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. The island is a sacred place for the goddess 弁財天　Benzaiten, a goddess of flow: the flow of water, the flow of money and the flow of music. She originally comes from India, but has a number of special places here in Japan, Chikubu Island being one.  I tried to make this pilgrimage in the early spring, but on arrival at the dock found that the ferry had been cancelled because of high winds. The weather could not have been more different this time, scorching hot and high humidity. By the time I had walked from Nagahama station to the ferry, I was dripping with sweat. But after only a few minutes of the ferries mechanical cool air and soulless glass windows, I escaped to the open deck, well before the ferry departed. But as the ferry sailed I was rewarded with a fresh breeze that cooled me down

The first few minutes of the journey were like many other boat rides I have taken in the past, I was visited my the memory of my Father. When I was a child we would ride the Isle of Man ferry and he would tell me about his time at sea as a sailor in the Royal Navy during WW2, something he rarely talked about on land.  But after a few minutes a new visitor came.

 

 

 

It was a hornet, and to be honest I am scared of hornets. I often take pictures of insects and have taken many of bees, but I avoid hornets.  Inside the ferry there were a lot of people, but on the small deck there was only me and a young couple. My first instinct was to warn the couple of the danger, but they were so unaware of the hornet and they were engrossed in taking each others pictures, they seemed to so happy. I decided not to tell them, unless the hornet approached them, I did not want to spoil there happiness.  So I took a deep breath and started to take pictures of the hornet. It was patient with me for a minute or two, but then flew off, back to land.

 

On arriving at the Island the first thing I had to do was climb the first of two very tall stone stairways. At the top I was hot and sweaty again, but I was met by another little friend.

 

 

 

A beautiful tonbo, dragonfly. This beautiful creature was most definitely not camera shy. Wanting to rest a little before climbing the second stairway I walked across to  唐門 Karamon the entrance to the temple that is the home of an image of Benzaiten. I did not intend to enter at that time, on my way back down I would do that.  Standing in the entrance way was a beautiful young woman, she made me remember the first time I climbed Glastonbury Tor in England.  Climbing that magickal hill I also saw a beautiful young woman, this one with an equally beautiful dog. This beautiful woman seemed to have been sitting there for a thousand years. To me she seemed like the embodiment of the goddess Isis. Likewise this beautiful young woman on the island, at least to me, was at that time the embodiment of Benzaiten. Part of me wanted to talk to her, but I knew this would break a spell that I did not want to break. So feeling blessed I walked away.

 

唐門

 

Walking back towards the the stairway I came across my third little friend of the day.

 

 





I noticed this little lizard basking in the sun. He was so cool I wanted to point him out to someone. Nearby there was an older couple, I was about to speak, when I noticed the older man was explaining something about an old tree and the woman seemed very interested. So I kept quiet and enjoyed my visit with the lizard.

I climbed up to 弁財天堂　Benzaitendou, here in the main hall was a man selling talismans and such like. I had my only conversation on the island with this man. He was very pleased to know that my reason to come to the island was because of Benzaiten. He went out of his way to help me enjoy my experience on the Island. From here I went back down to Karamon and made my way through the sacred buildings until I found the image of Benzaiten (picture at the top of this post).  My second visit with her of the day.

On the small stern deck of the ferry going back to Nagahama, watching the island disappear into the distance, once more I felt the presence of Benzaiten.  She is a goddess of music, listening to music is a spiritual thing I believe. Listening in general is spiritual, even listening to things with out voices can teach you something.  Of course talking is important, but often listening is more so.

Light of eye and soft of touch, speak you little, listen much

 

竹生島