Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine

The Zeniarai Benten shrine can be reached via a cave on the side of the road. There are a few stalls where you can buy food and incense candles. Some people wash money in a small spring inside a temple. The money washed there is said to bring good luck and increase. It should then only be spent on something very special.

Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine was founded in 1185 by Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate. Legend has it that Yoritomo had a dream in which a god told him to find a sacred spring in Kamakura. He discovered the spring and built the shrine to Benzaiten, the goddess of wealth, music, and eloquence.Zeniarai Benzaiten is famous for its ritual of money laundering at the sacred spring. It is believed that money laundered here will multiply and bring prosperity. Visitors often come to the shrine to purify their money and pray for financial success.Money laundered at Zeniarai Benzaiten is believed to increase financial prosperity, and it is considered even more auspicious to spend the money rather than save it. It is believed that by spending the money, wealth will circulate and lead to even greater prosperity. In addition, if you are lucky enough to see a white snake, which is the messenger of Benzaiten, on the shrine grounds, your luck is said to be even greater.