Benten is one of those deities you can find yourself developing a soft spot for. She is the goddess of fortune and feminine beauty, she likes a bit of a song and, for a deity at least (as I was to discover), she seems like a game sort of girl.

The shrines dedicated to her are usually in the loveliest watery settings. Benten's haunts include the islands of Miyajima near Hiroshima and Chikubu on Lake Biwa. Her shrines near the ponds in Inokashira Park and Ueno Park are two of Tokyo's nicest spots. And, as well, the charming, wooded island of Enoshima is all hers.

Enoshima tends to live somewhat in the touristic shadow of the higher-profile Kamakura, a few kilometers up the Kanagawa coast. Kamakura is a place that, throughout the year, hauls in throngs of visitors hungry for its temples. And it is also the place that in summer hauls in more throngs thirsting for its beaches -- even though they are dusty, gray stretches of grit and sand. The beaches on the mainland opposite Enoshima Island never seem to get quite as packed as those at Kamakura, and the Enoshima sand looks decidedly more inviting. But Enoshima and the nearby coast have something that Kamakura pointedly lacks -- the spectacular hulk of Mount Fuji gracing the horizon.