| Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Jinja | |
|---|---|
 Zeniarai Benzaiten Shrine | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Shinto |
| Deity | Ugafukujin, or goddess Benzaiten |
| Location | |
| Location | Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan |
  Shown within Japan | |
| Geographic coordinates | 35°19′32.93″N 139°32′32.10″E / 35.3258139°N 139.5422500°E |
| Architecture | |
| Founder | Minamoto no Yoritomo |
| Date established | Circa 1185 |
 Glossary of Shinto | |
Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine (銭洗弁財天宇賀福神社, Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Jinja), popularly known as Zeniarai Benten, is a Shinto shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.[1] It is a small shrine, but the second most popular spot in Kamakura after Tsurugaoka Hachimangū. Zeniarai Benzaiten is popular among tourists because the waters of a spring in its cave are said to be able to multiply the money washed in it. The object of worship is a syncretic kami that fuses a traditional spirit called Ugafukujin (宇賀福神) with the Buddhist goddess of Indian origin Sarasvati, known in Japanese as Benzaiten.[1] The shrine is one of the minority in Japan that still shows the fusion of native religious beliefs and foreign Buddhism (the so-called shinbutsu shūgō), which was normal before the Meiji restoration (end of the 19th century). Zeniarai Benzaiten used to be an external massha of Ōgigayatsu's[note 1] Yazaka Daijin (八坂大神), but became independent in 1970 under its present name.[1]
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