Summer grasses, All that remains, Of warriors' dreams: Birdwatching in Enoshima Island

 

Beaches of Kanagawa Prefecture often immediately follow hills or mountains. Many of them are not wide sandy beach as in Waikiki … Sealines in our prefecture often have cliffs and the like that are covered by greens and forests. Such places are loved by wild birds. They hunt fishes et al and create their breeding nests in a cliff below a forest, or in a forest above the cliff. Actually, Enoshima Island (; my post on June 30, 2017) is such a place. Early March, I joined a bird watching session there. The island has Enoshima Yacht Harbor where the sailing competition for TOKYO 2020 was held. During that summer, I spent almost a month in the Yacht Harbor (; my post on July 30, 2021)… I was nostalgic and curious what’s going on now from birds’ point of view.

The sea where the competition held in 2021

The way to visit Enoshima is easy. Get off Katase-Enoshima Station of Odakyu, and from the station gate, you’ll see the Island beyond Bentenbashi Bridge. You can take taxi or use commuter bus services to the island. But, if you plan to do birdwatching, please cross the bridge on foot. The fun with birds starts immediately after you leave the station. The area is famous for Black Kites that are circling above our head and waiting for a chance if lunch or snack of a tourist can be snatched. The birds are so clever and do not hesitate seizing the moment! Crossing the Bridge can be a thrilling game with the birds, especially when you have a savory snack in your hand. Oh, if you’re with kids, please be careful. Black Kites are astute enough to identify an easy target, like kids with a burger. Not many episodes are known for injury by the birds, but the incident can be traumatic.

A black kite on the top of a streetlight in Enoshima

According to Mr. Kazuya Takahashi of Fujisawa Sanctuary, our leader for the Enoshima Birdwatching, the population of Black Kites around Enoshima now completely holds air supremacy. 20-30 years ago, the place was also for Common Gull. He said “It was so ordinary to meet lines of Gulls on breakwaters of the Yacht Harbor. Now, no. It is lucky if we can meet one or two Common Gulls during a day here. It might be a case black kites won the territorial war with the Common Gulls. Slightly larger European Herring Gull is surviving the competition, it seems to us. In any case, catches at Katase Fishermen’s Wharf is decreasing these days. That would be the main reason why non-thieves like gulls are disappearing these days.” Oh dear … That’s said, the other birds that have different lifestyle from black kites are having a happy life in and around the island.

A European herring gull perching on a streetlight.

Black kites are relaxing near their nest in a forest of Enoshima.

Migratory birds visiting Japan during winter also have their vacation time on beach. People say these days Eurasian Coots are increasingly flocking in Kanagawa Prefecture, and beaches of Enoshima are not an exception. On that day, we’ve met lots of them in Katase Fishermen’s Wharf and along Bentenbashi Bridge. I’ve heard Eurasian Coots prefer vegetarian meals like aquatic plants, but they would eat fishes rather than concentrating on seaweeds, I guess. The birds often did deep dive below the bridge. I once swam from Enoshima to Katase-higashi-hama Beach for some 800m. At the time of high tide the sea below the bridge has 3m or so depth, and the bottom is not so much covered by seaweeds. It was certainly not so difficult to identify the shadow of fishes during my swim … Interestingly, some widgeons which normally spend their winter in freshwater places in Japan also relax on beach in Enoshima. We met European Widgeons pecking seaweeds pasted on rocky shore of the island.

Eurasian Coot in Enoshima’s sea

Breakfast at Enoshima for Eurasian Widgeons.
Could you see they are in eclipse plumage?

A couple of Red-breasted Merganser,
another winter migratory birds from Siberia,
also had their beach vacation.

We also met lots of relatives of Pelican family on that day in Enoshima. An Eastern Reef Heron was busy hunting in a rocky beach. Great Cormorants were making large colony on a rock reef near the area for the 2020 Olympics competition. Loner Grey Herons were mixing with the other birds and did familiar meditation on a sea rock or in a forest. Those large birds engage in very concentrated hunting on the shore and around sunset return to their nest on a human-inaccessible rock or in the forest above the cliff. Enoshima is very busy tourists’ destination, but it has forbidden natural spots where we can only identify the place with binoculars. It would be a nice housing area for these birds, I guess.

A concentrated hunt of Eastern Reef Heron

A house for Grey Heron in a forest

With some reason, a Grey Heron quietly stood
in a middle of a flock of Great Cormorants.

In terms of large birds, Enoshima is secretly famous as one of few nesting grounds for Peregrine Falcon in Megalopolis Tokyo area. On that day, we were lucky to spot one on the south cliff. The falcons prefer such almost vertical place for their chicks, like in skyscrapers of NY. As Enoshima Island has a stable population of Peregrine Falcon, the place should have lots of meals for them, i.e. smaller birds, and undisturbed vertical wall … By the way, the space in front of Il Chianti Café, at the entrance for Samuel Cocking Garden, often becomes a place for a flock of photographers with large lenses. They use their bazooka sized lenses to take a picture of the “definite Peregrine Falcon.” Please be careful not to disturb this particular herd. They can be more ferocious than falcon especially when their perfect moment is distracted by your casual demeanor …

I didn’t use bazooka for this.

The place when the enclosed Olympians cheered their fellow athletes during the game is now quiet, relaxed promenade-cum-breakwater. When we stood there quietly, several pretty birds came into our sight. They all looked very content under the spring sun. Clear blue body of Blue Rock Thrush hopped on tetrapods around which those Olympians easily maneuvered their liners after the trial … It was a warm, peaceful Yacht Harbor. The hub-bub during the competition was gone completely, like a dream. Maybe, that’s why we are fascinated by the Olympics Games.

Eurasian Oystercatcher just outside the Yacht Harbor

Blue Rock Thrush

I think it’s a Sooty Storm-petrel.
For Japanese Red Data Book,
they are categorized as Near Threatened.

Great Crested Grebe spending their winter near the beach

A Black-headed Gull was floating in the sea …
Oh, they are the “Prefectural Bird of Kanagawa.”

European Herring Gull with Black-backed Wagtail

If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/

Skunkvine at Olympics: Enoshima Yacht Harbor for Tokyo 2020 Sailing Competition

 

I don’t know why, but skunkvines are vigorous in Enoshima Yacht Harbor (; my post on June 30, 2017) where Sailings Competitions are held for Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Maybe these “looks-cute-but-smells-horrible” flowers do well with salty wind and sandy soil …

From tomorrow, medal sessions will start!

Battle of sexes! Forest of Enoshima Island in Shonan Beach 湘南江の島

Ahhhhhhhhhh … summer. “Let’s go to beach!” In Kanagawa, the incantation normally evokes the beach of the prefecture, Shonan 湘南海岸. So many times, Shonan Beach has been the set of Japanese popular culture. This is the place where Japanese started to enjoy American style surfing in the 1950s. Lots of movies, music, novellas, etc, of summer passion, young angst, or anything of this kind chose Shonan Beach as their stage. Slam Dunk, anybody? Do you love Southern All Stars? Yukio Mishima was a regular for Oiso Prince Hotel. Now Haruki Murakami lives in Oiso Town 大磯町, etc. etc. Inevitably, especially during summer, somewhere along the beach is the place of party people. The revelry spot changes according to the city ordinances against loud music. Until 3 years ago, Zushi beach 逗子海岸 was the place for teenagers with loud speakers to dance till dawn. Grown-ups of beach-front home complained to the police. Now playing music in Zushi beach is prohibited. People have moved on to Kamakura, and these days Yuigahama beach 由比ガ浜 is the mecca of anything, including walking naked and brawls. Kanagawa Prefectural Police is watching Yuigahama very seriously ... In the middle of Shonan Beach, there is Enoshima Island 江の島 that is actually the grand-mother of commoners’ beach party in Japan. And it was Mt. Oyama 大山 inviting this island of Mm. goddess some 500 years ago to be a part of their merrymaking. This week is a summer holiday of my adventure in the forest, of Enoshima!

Enoshima Island and
Katase Nishi-hama 片瀬東浜 beach in January.
Lots of surfers …

Actually, from Enoshima Mt Fuji is supposed to be seen
beautifully just like some Ukiyoe paintings.
If weather permitting, that is …

Enoshima Island is situated 400m out from Katase beach 片瀬海岸. During high tides it is completely separated from the Honshu Island, otherwise sandbank remains between the two. The basic geology of the island is a hill (60m ASL) surrounded by 4km of vertical sea cliffs and sea caves. Ancient people thought something sacred about the place, and many celebrities of Japanese monks and literati, such as Kukai 空海 and Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉, came for meditation. On the other hand, Minamoto-no Yoritomo 源頼朝, who started Kamakura Shogunate Government 鎌倉幕府 in 1185, donated the seed money in 1182 for the construction of Enoshima Shrine 江の島神社 in the island. Since then, the place was also for rich and powerful to pray for their good luck to the sea goddess of Enoshima Shrine, Benzaiten (Saraswati) 弁財天. Have you noticed a similarity of the story with Mt. Oyama? Yeah. When in the 17th century commoners of Edo (Tokyo) discovered a pleasure of pilgrimage, Enoshima Shrine became a part of the itinerary for Oyama Pilgrimage 大山詣り. The macho boys with tattoos from Shibuya climbed up Mt. Oyama via Route 246, then went south from around present-day Atsugi City to Shonan Beach, asked more good luck to Benzaiten in Enoshima, admired ancient temples in Kamakura, and returned to Edo along Tokaido 東海道 (present-day Route 1) via Yokohama’s Hitorizawa Citizen Forest 氷取沢市民の森. I think that’s a pretty good holiday schedule even now. The package became super popular, and Enoshima Island for beach party was born. After Mathew C. Perry of the US Navy arrived in Japan in 1852, Japanese government allowed foreigners who were confined in Yokohama to travel within 40km radius of Yokohama. Enoshima Island was comfortably within this range, and the place has very moderate climate with beautiful ocean view. Expats flocked the place. Among them was American zoologist/ethnologist Edward Sylvester Morse who introduced Darwinism and modern archeology to Japan, and English merchant Samuel Cocking. Dr. Morse established marine biology center in Enoshima that was the mother of all the oceanology institutions of Japan. Mr. Cocking built a country house with a high-tech (of that time) glass house at the top of the island, which is now a botanical garden of the City of Fujisawa 藤沢市. Number of locals coming to Enoshima kept growing, especially since 1929 when Odakyu Enoshima Line 小田急江ノ島線 connected Enoshima and Shinjuku. So, Enoshima Island has been, and will be, a very well-liked tourist destination, both for Japanese and foreign visitors. As Morse and Cocking found, it has interesting forests accommodating native temperate vegetation and imported tropical plants.

Enoshima Island has lots of monuments
celebrating the visits of Japanese cultural celebrities.
This photo contains a commemoration of Matsuo Basho,
the great Haiku poet.

Visiting Enoshima Island is easy. You hop on a commuter train of Odakyu-Enoshima Line, and go to the terminal station, Katase Enoshima 片瀬江ノ島駅. Leaving from the station (one exit only), you’ll see a pedestrian bridge crossing over Sakai River 境川. Beyond the bridge on the right there is a tourism information office of the City of Fujisawa, and behind it is an entrance for an under-path reaching to 389m Enoshima Benten Bridge 江の島弁天橋 that connects Enoshima and Honshu Islands for pedestrians. Simply walking cross it, and we are in front of a bronze Torii built in 1821. It’s a gate for Enoshima Shrine. By now, you notice the place is full of souvenir shops and seafood restaurants, in addition to inns and a spa. Of course. The place has been like this for centuries. One of the protagonists in a popular Kabuki story, Shiranami Five 白波五人男, was modelled from a real page boy who worked for the Island’s most prestigious hotel, Iwamotoroh 岩本院・岩本楼, in the 19th century. Enjoy your stroll along steeply climbing up alley, called Benzaiten Nakamise Dori Street 弁財天仲見世通. Eventually, you’ll meet a bright red Torii of the Shrine that notifies us the beginning of an inner sanctuary of the religious institution. Around here, the forest, rather than shops, begins to dominate the scenery. Enoshima Shrine maintains a typical structure of Shintoism shrine. The places of worship are surrounded by forests.

Everybody loves Odakyu Katase Enoshima Station.
They have been like this before Disney Land!

On the right of Katase Enoshima Station,
you’ll find a satellite restaurant of Kua’aina Burger
from O’ahu’s Haleiwa.
Their Avocado Burger remains strong.

Enoshima Tourism Information and entrance to
Benten Bridge under-path.
The place has well-stocked English / Chinese / Korean /Thai
information for tourists to Shonan.
It’s worth a visit.

Beginning of Benten Bridge.
Parallel to Benten Bridge, a vehicle bridge,
Enoshima Oh-hashi Bridge 江の島大橋, runs.
Occasionally we find tourists,
especially foreign visitors, walking over there.
According to the Japanese Road Traffic Law, it’s an illegal act.
In the middle of Benten Bridge,
there is a small harbor for boats
that carries tourists to the south shore of the Island.
If you don’t like to walk, using their service would be an option.

The entrance to Enoshima Shrine

Alley way of souvenir shops in Enoshima

Welcome to the place of worship!
Everybody agrees the whole design is defiantly “kitsch.”

A bit further up, there is a station for Escar, an open-air escalator
that brings us to the botanical garden at the top,
making the place barrier-free.
Adult one way, 360 yen.
Kid’s one way, 180 yen.

Enoshima Shrine is for Benzaiten or Saraswati, but strictly speaking the Indian goddess of the Island is transformed into 3 sisters of Japanese sea goddesses. Each goddess has a dedicated shrine dotted within the hilly forest: Ho’anden Shrine 奉安殿 for Sarawati, Hetsu-no-miya Shrine 辺津宮 for Taguitsuhime-no-mikoto 田寸津比賣命, Nakatsu-no-miya Shrine 中津宮 for Ichikishimahime-no-mikoto 市寸島比賣命, and Okutsu-no-miya Shrine 奥津宮 for Tagirihime-no-mikoto多紀理比賣命. This arrangement of Indian and Japanese goddesses is exactly the same for Itsukushima Shrine 厳島神社 in Hiroshima. Perhaps, it was a common thinking in those says. From the red Torii, we go up the green hill of Enoshima to visit first Ho’anden Shrine and Hetsu-no-miya Shrine, then Nakatsu-no-miya. I warn you it’s not a gentle climb, but a continuation of steep steps. What this mountainous place made popular among young tattooed guys of the 17th century was the statue of Sarawati in Ho’anden shrine, called Hadaka Benzaiten, aka Naked Sarawati 裸弁財天 … This is a party place, I told you. The most popular job description of these goddesses is their superpower for anything about popular arts, such as music, dance and theatre. Kabuki actors and TV stars frequently visit and hike Enoshima Shrine for the success of their business. Inevitably, the couples and single ladies searching for “the one” come here to ask their movie-like love stories. The romance must let them forget the sharp climbs …

For love, love, love, …

Ho’anden shrine

Next to Ho’anden Shrine,
there is Yasaka Shrine 八坂神社
which has annually a wild summer festival
with Koyurugi Shrine 小動神社
in Koshigoe Fishing Harbor 腰越漁港 of the opposite shore.
 On July 14,
the elaborated portable shrine from Yasaka Shrine
dives into the sea,
and is carried to Koyurugi Shrine for a joint ritual.
If you have a chance,
just go there and watch beach bums
doing the sacred but fun tradition.

Hetsu-no-miya Shrine

Between Hetsu-no-miya Shrine and Nakatsu-no-miya Shrine,
we have a viewing spot for east Shonan Beach
where we can see beaches of Kamakura,
Zushi, and the others till the tip of Miura Peninsula.
Have you noticed a vacant lot below in front of a yacht harbor?
The harbor is Enoshima Yacht Harbor
where 1964 Tokyo Olympics was held,
and the empty space is preparing for Sailing for
2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Nakatsu-no-miya Shrine

On the side of Nakatsu-no-miya Shrine,
there is a small Japanese garden with Suikinkutsu 水琴窟.
Suikinkutsu is a musical instrument
where a ceramic jar is buried under the ground
with a lid as an opening.
A visitor pours water through the hole of the lid,
and the dropping water makes ambient sound,
in the style of Brian Eno. 
Though the place is often too congested to enjoy meditative music,
you can try.

We walk up further from Nakatsu-no-miya to the entrance of Samuel Cocking Garden. Then, the one way road of steps, called Oiwaya-michi Dori Street 御岩屋道通, goes down rapidly. The both sides of the street have another continuation of souvenir shops, restaurants and inns. In the middle of this route, there is a sheer valley called Yama-futatsu 山ふたつ that was created by sea erosion. From there, the road climbs up again to Okutsu-no-miya that is actually the main shrine of Enoshima. According to the mythology, the original divine grace of the goddesses was their power to pacify a mad 5-headed dragon who harassed the villagers along Shonan Beach. The dragon annually demanded people to sacrifice cute babies of their community otherwise he brought any natural disaster of his choice, such as draught or flood. Then, a sexy goddess of the ocean suddenly appeared and created Enoshima Island. By seeing her, the dragon fell in love at once and proposed marriage. She flatly rejected his offer saying he’s a shameless asshole tormenting poor humans. He deeply regretted his deed and promised her he would help the villagers if she became his wife. She said OK, and from then the dragon worked very hard to protect Shonan people from any water-related natural disasters. Everybody was happy, but the workload for the dragon was enormous. Finally, he was burned out, said goodbye to the goddess, and went to the opposite shore of the Island to become Tatsunokuchi-yama hill 竜口山 where now Ryukohji Temple 龍口寺 stands. Some believed the eldest sister of the three goddesses, Tagirihime-no-mikoto, was actually the lady who dominated the mad dragon, and thus for her main residence she uses the most sacred place in Enoshima, the largest sea cave called Iwaya 岩屋 in the south shore, and resides Okutsu-no-miya Shrine during typhoon season. Now the Japanese engineering protected her ocean front condo from any storm damage, and let the place one of the tourist attractions with top-notch sound and lighting show inside (admission: 500 yen for 16 years old and up, 200 yen for kids). ... Even if her terms of reference includes entertainment business, I don’t think the goddess is happy to live in the cave-full of light and music with lots of audience all year long … If I were she, I would prefer quieter Okutsu-no-miya Shrine surrounded by the forest ... 😄

Further up from Nakatsu-no-Miya,
there is Samuel Cocking Garden where
a lighthouse named Enoshima Sea Candle stands.
Admission:
500 yen for 13 years old and up, 250 yen for kids.

Inside the Garden, there are rare specimens of floras
Cocking collected from tropical South Pacific.
This photo is for Araucaria heterophylla and Araucaria columnaris.

The English country house Cocking built was
destroyed by the Great Kanto Earthquake 関東大震災.
Though, there remains its foundation,
including the underground heating system for the glass house.

Enoshima Sea Candle.
You can go up to the observatory.
In addition to be a tourists’ attraction,
this is a fairly well-functioning lighthouse,
maintaining safe maritime traffic in Sagami Bay 相模湾.

The road goes down from the Cocking Garden.

The Yamafutatsu valley was created by waves and strong winds.
The resilient but deformed plants,
such as Miscanthus condensatus and Boehmeria biloba,
thrive here.

Welcome to Okutsu-no-miya Shrine.
This Torii is said to be donated by Minamoto-no Yoritomo
in the 12^th century.

Okutsu-no-miya Shrine.
The lady of the Island lives here.

From Okutsu-no-miya Shrine,
the steps go down rapidly to …

the south shore of the Island.
Could you figure out Izu Peninsula there?

Although we have to use a very tourists-friendly pedestrian bridge
to the sea cave Iwaya …

it’s a fun to walk below the bridge on the rock ledge
raised from the sea bed by the Great Kanto Earthquake.

Fishes were trapped!

Entrance to Iwaya. Ticket, please.

And the goddess’s ex-husband is over there,
seen from the north shore of the Island.
Hmmmm, now it’s behind the tall seaside condos …
but the dragon is certainly admiring Enoshima Island.

From the ledge near Iwaya, we can see a natural forest of Enoshima Island spreading at the top of the island. To go there, we return Okutsu-no-miya Shrine. Just before the Shrine, there is an entrance on the right to a small trekking route to visit the forest of Enoshima, Enoshima Tatsunogaoka Natural Forest 江の島龍野ヶ岡自然の森. Inside, there is a dating spot, called Ryuren-no-kane 龍恋の鐘, for couples to swear eternal love in front of the beautiful ocean … Often couples with polished shoes and pin-heels just visit the Ryuren-no-kane and won’t venture into the woodland itself. The forest is made of evergreen broad-leaved trees typical in Kanagawa Prefecture. Thanks to the ocean, the climate for this forest is more stable than in, say, Tanzawa mountains, and on average 1°C warmer with larger precipitation than for the opposite shore of Honshu Island. The vegetation of Castanopsis sieboldii, Machilus thunbergii, Camellia japonica, Farfugium japonicum, … is very lush, while the warm sea breeze blows through the trees. If you just walk in the forest, it won’t take more than 10 minutes to go around, but the place has lots of picnic benches for visitors, of a couple or otherwise, happily to have lunch. The forest is a relaxing and quieter place for anybody who loves trees. If you visit Enoshima Island for sightseeing, please just drop by to this forest which is actually a hidden gem in a traditionally partying beach.

We can observe the forest from the below.

Entrance to Tatsunogaoka Natural Forest

For couples to eternal love, to the right, please.

You ring the bell to declare your passion.

But to the left is more for the forest.

Let’s have a relaxing lunch!

Lots of Farfugium japonicum

If you find environmental problems in Enoshima Island, please make a contact to


Local History Section, Continued Learning Promotion Division, Fujisawa City
Fujisawa Plaza, 1-2 Kugenuma-Higashi, Fujisawa, 251-0026
Phone: 0466-25-1111 (ext.) 5313, 

FAX: 0466-27-0201

藤沢市生涯学習部郷土歴史課
〒251-0026 藤沢市鵠沼東1番2号 藤沢プラザ5階

You can send an enquiry to them from their homepage at

https://www.city.fujisawa.kanagawa.jp/cgi-bin/simple_faq/form.cgi