Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine — 銭洗弁財天宇賀福神社

Inside a cave fed by a sacred spring in the hills of Kamakura, worshippers wash banknotes and coins in ice-cold water, believing the act will multiply their wealth. Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine — known simply as Zeniarai Benten — is built around this spring, which appeared to Minamoto no Yoritomo in a dream on the Day of the Snake in 1185. The water flows year-round at the same temperature, and on any given day you will find businessmen in suits, elderly women with purses full of ten-thousand-yen notes, and tourists with single coins, all performing the same ritual with woven bamboo baskets. The shrine exists in a natural amphitheatre of rock, accessed through a tunnel barely wide enough for two people to pass, as if the act of enrichment requires first passing through constriction.

The shrine was founded in 1185 when Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura period, received a dream visitation from Ugafukujin — a syncretic deity combining a sea serpent with prosperity. The deity instructed him to find a spring in the western hills and worship there for the peace of the nation and the prosperity of his people. Yoritomo located the spring on the Day of the Snake in the Month of the Snake, considered doubly auspicious. The original worship was for national stability, not personal wealth — the money-washing practice developed later during the Edo period when a member of the Hōjō clan washed coins here and subsequently prospered. The shrine’s full formal name, Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Jinja, reflects the later association with Benzaiten, the Buddhist goddess of everything that flows: water, words, music, and money.

Ichikishima-hime no Mikoto (市杵島姫命) is the primary Shinto deity, one of three sister goddesses born from the trial by oath between Amaterasu and Susanoo. She is the kami of seas, islands, and prosperity, often syncretized with the Buddhist deity Benzaiten. Ugafukujin (宇賀福神), a uniquely Japanese deity depicted as an old man with a serpent’s body, represents agricultural and financial abundance. The pairing creates a double blessing: Ichikishima-hime governs the flow of fortune, while Ugafukujin ensures its accumulation. The shrine’s messenger is the white snake, considered a manifestation of both deities and frequently depicted in the shrine’s imagery and sold as talismans.

The Spring That Multiplies Fortune: In the early Kamakura period, after Minamoto no Yoritomo established the shrine following his prophetic dream, the spring remained primarily a site for ritual purification and prayers for political stability. The money-washing tradition began in the 13th century when Hōjō Tokiyori, the fifth regent of the Kamakura shogunate, washed coins in the spring before distributing them to the poor during a famine. The recipients reported that the money seemed to stretch further than it should have, feeding more mouths than expected. Word spread, and soon samurai, merchants, and farmers were washing their coins at the cave. The practice intensified during the Edo period, with the belief that money washed on a Day of the Snake would multiply several times over. The legend holds that the money must be spent, not hoarded — the washing doesn’t increase the physical currency but rather the fortune it generates when put into circulation.

The shrine is approached through a narrow tunnel cut through the rock face, approximately 10 meters long and barely two meters high, creating a dramatic threshold between the mundane world and the sacred precinct. Emerging from the tunnel, visitors enter a box canyon entirely surrounded by vertical rock walls draped with vegetation. The main worship hall and the money-washing cave are built into the cliff face, with traditional vermilion-painted structures contrasting against grey stone and green moss. The sacred spring emerges from deep within the cave, channelled into stone basins where the washing takes place. Small torii gates are wedged into crevices in the rock walls, and the canyon floor is dotted with stone lanterns and subsidiary shrines. The entire complex feels compressed and intimate, as if the divine presence has been concentrated into this single geological pocket.

• Hatsu-Mi (First Day of the Snake) — Held on the first Day of the Snake in the new lunar year (usually February), this is the shrine’s most important festival. Crowds swell to thousands as worshippers believe money washed on this day receives maximum blessing. The queue to enter the tunnel can extend for hours.
• Daily Money-Washing Ritual — Visitors purchase candles and incense at the entrance, proceed to the main hall for prayer, then descend to the cave where they place money in bamboo baskets and wash it under the spring water. The money is dried and kept in special purses sold at the shrine, or spent within the year to activate the blessing.
• Snake Day Observances — Every Day of the Snake in the traditional calendar (every 12 days) sees increased attendance, though not to the scale of Hatsu-Mi. Regular worshippers align their visits to these days.

Mid-morning on a weekday between March and May offers the ideal balance: the spring air is crisp, the surrounding hills are bright green, and the crowds are manageable enough that you won’t wait more than 20 minutes to wash your money. Avoid Hatsu-Mi unless you want the full cultural experience of collective financial aspiration — the wait can exceed three hours. Early December, when the hills turn copper and rust, provides beautiful atmosphere with moderate crowds. The cave maintains the same cool temperature year-round, but winter visits mean emerging from the ritual with wet hands into cold air, while summer visits offer relief from Kamakura’s humid heat.