The Enoden links Fujisawa & Kamakura via a coastal route that gives both those cities access to the little island of Enoshima – hence the name. It’s a charming, old-fashioned trainline, with some really interesting sights to be seen along the way.

Click this link for more info.

---

Local Sights

Shichirigahama seems pretty uninspiring at first glance, but there are actually quite a few things to visit.

(I’m of the view that most of those things aren’t really worth a great deal of time and energy but your mileage may vary.)

There’s a couple of sites related to Nichiren – Reikoji is up on the hill behind Shichirigahama, a temple built a long long time after he was around, but apparently on the site of a famous Nichiren story.

Right outside the station is the Yukiaigawa; the crossing over this river is where an Imperial messenger carrying a pardon for Nichiren bumped into a messenger coming from Enoshima in the opposite direction. He was bringing news about how Nichiren had just escaped execution, owing to a brilliant flash in the sky right when he was due to be done away with.

Presumably these two had quite the chat.

Down the road from here you can also find a former memorial hall celebrating Eliana Pavlova – the godmother of Japanese ballet, apparently. (I originally assumed there was a connection to Anna Pavlova, but I can’t find any such evidence, apart from the name.)

---

All About EN09 Shichirigahama Station

The next stop past Kamakura-koko-mae, home to a little passing place for two trains just before the station on the west side, a 7-11, a big old parking area beside the beach which also features a Hawaiian restaurant and yet another place for a good gander at Enoshima.

It’s also home to a whole heap of hawks, keen on snaffling your snacks, so watch out.

Down the road back towards Kamakura-koko-mae, you may notice a funny looking building. This is the aforementioned Pavlova memorial hall, although nowadays it’s a private residence and you can’t do anything other than admire it from outside.

Up the hill away from the beach, you can find Reikoji – a temple built to honour another Nichiren legend.

There’d been no rain since spring, in the summer of 1271, and a local priest and his monks had been praying for rain for over a week. Nichiren showed up and took over and… Guess what? It rained.

In the late Meiji period, a priest came across a stone marker explaining that this was the site of this miracle, and set about building a temple. It was formally established in 1957, so it’s pretty new in temple terms.

I never made it up there myself, so you’d do well to check out this site if you want more in depth Reikoji information – I got a lot of today’s background from there.

---

EN09 Shichirigahama Station Gallery

---