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Last Update Feb. 22, 2006
Added Money-Washing Tradition
BENZAITEN, BENZAI-TEN, BENTEN
Goddess of Music, Poetry, Learning, Art
Goddess of the Sea, Protector of Children
Origin India. Sanskrit Sarasvati
Shinto Association: Kami Itsukushima Hime
Member of the TENBU
One of Japan's Seven Lucky Deities
Associations: The Naga (Snakes & Dragons)
In Japan, the worship of the Goddess Kichijouten
has been largely supplanted by Benzaiten worship.
 
(L) Stone, 8 arms, reportedly made by Kobo Daishi, Hase (Kamakura)
(R) Stone statue at private home in Kamakura
Benzaiten Mantra
Female. The sea goddess Benzaiten is the sole female among the Seven Lucky Gods of Japan. Her temples and shrines are almost invariably in the neighborhood of water -- the sea, a river, or a pond. She is the patroness of music, the fine arts (dancing, acting, visual), and good fortune in general, and is often shown carrying a biwa (Japanese mandolin) or playing a lute. She is often represented as a beautiful woman with the power to assume the form of a serpent, or shown seated on a dragon or serpent and playing a lute. In fact, the snake is almost always associated with Benzaiten, who was originally a Hindu deity (Sarasvati) who represented learning, music and poetry. Such artistic learning and wisdom often bring prosperity, hence her inclusion in the Japanese group of seven luckies. She also has a jewel that grants desires. Some say it is a jade, while others say it is a pearl.
In India, she was named after an Indian river with the same name (Sarasvati). She arrived in Japan soon after the introduction of Buddhism to this island in the 6th century, and her worship was based largely on her attributes as described in the Sutra of Golden Light.
 On days of importance to the serpent in Japan, one can find many festivals at the numerous Japanese shrines and temples dedicated to Benzaiten (Benten), in which votive pictures with serpents drawn on them are offered. It is also said that putting a cast-off snake skin in your purse/wallet will bring you wealth and property. Finally, during the Kamakura Period, artists for the first time began to create "naked" sculptures of Buddhist and Shinto deities. The object of their artistic talents was often Benzaiten, although other deities, like Jizo Bosatsu, were also sculpted in the nude.
ANIMAL ASSOCIATIONS
 The Snake, White Snake, Hakuja
In Japan, Benzaiten is occasionally depicted in artwork surrounded by white serpents, or crowned with a white serpent. At other times, she appears with a sea dragon (see "Sea Dragon" below). Images of her are also sometimes accompanied by a large white serpent with the head of an old man. This latter entity is called Hakuja (white serpent; also known as Ugajin), considered her companion. Even today, when many of the myths surrounding Benzaiten are mostly forgotten, the Japanese believe that seeing a white snake is an omen of great luck -- but not many will remember why. Furthermore, in modern Japan, Buddhism and Shinto continue to share deities despite earlier and aggressive government attempts to divide the two into distinct camps during the Meiji Era of State Shinto (see Shinto Page for details). For example, the Japanese have merged Inari, the Shinto god/goddess of rice, with Benzaiten, the goddess of art and music. The composite deity is called Uga Benzaiten. See www.telemesse.ne.jp/daikakuji/0.html for more details (Japanese language only).
Ugajin, as a separate entity, usually appears in artwork as an old man surrounded by a large white snake, with only the head appearing (source: Flammarion Iconographic Guides by Louis Frederic).
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The Sea Dragon
Below text courtesy of "Myths and Legends of Japan"
by F. Hadland Davis, first published in 1913 by
George G. Harrap & Company, London
In a certain cave there lived a formidable dragon, which devoured the children of the village of Koshigoe. In the 6th century AD, Benzaiten was determined to put a stop to this monster's unseemly behavior, and having caused a great earthquake she hovered in the clouds over the cave where the dread dragon had taken up his abode. Benzaiten then descended from the clouds, entered the cavern, married the dragon, and was thus able, through her good influence, to put an end to the slaughter of little children. With the coming of Benzaiten there arose from the sea the famous Island of Enoshima, which has remained to this day sacred to Benzaiten, the Goddess of the Sea. <end Hadland quote>
Sanskrit Seed Sound
SO
Wooden Statue, Meiji Era
Found statue inside store near Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, Kamakura
Images of Benzaiten often show her with eight arms,
holding objects such as bow, arrow, wheel, sword, key, and
sacred jewel; sometimes two of the hands are folded in reverent prayer.
Closeup of prior photo
Benzaiten wooden statue inside Kamakura store
Click here for modern Japanese paintings of the sea goddess
Benzaiten's 16 Children
In early Buddhism in India, Benzaiten is associated with 16 children, said to be incarnations of the various Buddhist deities who symbolize the crafts for which she is the patroness. At Hase Dera in Kamakura, a cave with 16 life-size statues, all female, is found on the ground level of the temple. If your computer can display Japanese, please visit below page to see images of the 16 children of Benzaiten at Daikakuji Temple.
Benzaiten's 16 Children
More About the 16 Children of Benzaiten
(editor: below unconfirmed)
One story is that 15 Princes and one Princess set out from Japan, which at that time was still part of the ancient continent of Mu, to populate the world. They went to various parts of the globe and apparently their names are even similar to the names of the various continents and countries.
BELOW TEXT COURTESY OF:
www.japan-101.com/culture/benzaiten_japanese_goddess.htm
Benzaiten is the Japanese name of Sarasvati (also read "Saraswati"), which was originally a mighty river in ancient India (see Vedic Saraswati River). Later she became the eponymous deity of that river. Benzaiten arrived in Japan during the 6th through 8th centuries, mainly via the Chinese translations of the Sutra of Golden Light (金光明經), which has a section devoted to her. She is also mentioned in the Lotus Sutra. As a river-deity, she came to be the goddess of everything that flows: words (and knowledge, by extension), speech, eloquence, and music. The characters used initially to write her name, read Biancaitian in Chinese and Benzaiten in Japanese (辯才天), reflected her role as the goddess of eloquence. Because the Sutra of Golden Light promised protection of the state, in Japan she became a protector-deity, at first of the state and then of people. Lastly she became one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, and the Sino-Japanese characters used to write her name changed to 弁財天 (no change in pronunciation), which reflects her role in bestowing monetary fortune. She is enshrined on the Island of Enoshima (江の島) in Sagami Bay, about 50 kilometers south of Tokyo, and she and a dragon are the central figures of the Enoshima Engi (江嶋縁起), a history of the shrines on Enoshima written by the Japanese Buddhist monk Kokei (皇慶) in 1047 A.D. For more details on the Enoshima Engi, please see:
www.japan-101.com/culture/enoshima_engi.htm
SUTRAS
Benzaiten appears in the Konkomyo-o-kyo, where she was the sister of Enma-ten (Yamaraja), the King of the Buddhist hells, from where her worship began in China in the 8th century (see Flammarion Iconographic Guides)
In the Konkomyo-saisho-o-kyo Sutra in Japan, she is said to protect those who possess this sutra and to help them acquire all sorts of material gain. (see Flammarion Iconographic Guides).
Ivory Benzaiten in collection of
Andres Bernhard AKA Rapick - Italy
Date Unknown
MONEY-WASHING TRADITION
The Zeniarai Benten Shrine (outside link) in Kamakura City is devoted to the goddess Benzaiten. At this shrine, believers "wash" their money in water to make it reproduce and increase. But there is another deity, known as Fudo Myou-ou, who can work the same miracle.
This money-washing tradition is easy to understand for Benzaiten. She is the goddess of fortune, and shrines/temples devoted to her are always located near water (river, pond, lake, ocean). She is associated with the NAGA (serpents and dragons), who guard treasure.
But why Fudo Myou-ou? His real symbol is fire. His aureole is almost always the flames of fire. He is also the main honzon for GOMA 護摩, a fire ceremony still popular today in which defilements are symbolically burnt away.
So why would people wash money under Fudo's protection? Because he washes away impurities? Maybe, perhaps, because drawings of Fudo show him standing on a rock rising from the sea? For example, the drawing at Daigoji 醍醐寺, Kyoto, and the famous 1282 drawing by Shinkai 信海 of Fudou standing on a rock rising from the sea. Moreover, Kurikara, a dragon wound around a sword, may appear in paintings of Fudou. Also, both Kurikara and Fudou are found often near ascetic practice places, such as small waterfalls. Perhaps this is the reason. For more details on this topic, see the Fudo Money Washing Page (outside link) by Gabi Greve.
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OTHER GODDESSES OF WEALTH & FORTUNE
In Japan, the goddess Marishiten (of Hindu origin) is revered as a tutelary deity of the warrior class. In later centuries, like Benzaiten, she was worshipped as a goddess of wealth and prosperity among merchants. She was counted along with Daikokuten 大黒天 and Benzaiten 弁財天 as one of a trio of "three deities" (Santen 三天) invoked for good fortune during the Edo period. Marishiten is a member of the TENBU group, but her place among Japan's Seven Lucky Deities was assumed by Benzaiten.
In addition, the worship of another goddess of fortune, Kichijouten, has been replaced by worship of Benzaiten. Kichijouten is the wife of Vishnu in Hindu myths. She is also the wife or sister of Bishamonten in Buddhist myths. In Japan she is the goddess of fortune, luck, beauty, and merit. Among some Japanese sects, she was the central devotional deity, given individual status as an object of Buddhist worship. However, since the 15th/16th century, her imagery and attributes were largely supplanted by the Goddess Benzaiten (this page).
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