Yoritomi, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate founded this shrine in 1185 after he was visited in a dream on the seventh day of the snake, in the seventh month and year of the snake by a Shinto deity that told him to purify himself at the stream located here in order to bring peace to the land. The shinto deity, Ugafukujin, is part snake and is associated with water, food and wealth. One of the Buddhist seven lucky gods is Benzaiten who is associated with water, wealth and good fortune. The two legends combined making this a place for both Shinto and Buddhist worship of Uga Benzaiten. Somehow this Shrine, with its combined Shinto and Buddhist practices, was allowed to continue during the Meiji period, when there was active reforms to split Shinto and Buddhist practices.
Today people still come to this shrine with their money, and I mean lots of money, not just a quarter and some change. They are given bamboo baskets, in which they place their money and then pour water out of the sacred stream over the money saying a prayer. The belief is that whatever amount is washed will be doubled in the near future. I'm still waiting, but always hopeful.
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