Hakuja- Japanese CreatureCreature · Beast"Messengers of Benzaiten"

Benzaiten's Messengers

A white snake is not an ordinary snake. Albino specimens of the Japanese rat snake appear rarely, and when one is found near a shrine, it belongs to Benzaiten. The goddess of water and prosperity claims white snakes as her messengers, her tsukai, and sighting one means her favor is near.

The Enoshima Engi, an eleventh-century origin tale of the Enoshima shrines, ties the serpent to Benzaiten through the dragon who became her consort. At the Enoshima cave shrines in Sagami Bay, white snakes are fed by shrine attendants and treated as living extensions of this bond. Their shed skins are collected and kept in wallets and purses as talismans for wealth. The practice is still common. Millions of Japanese carry a scrap of snakeskin in their billfolds, a piece of Benzaiten's messenger tucked beside their money.

Iwakuni

In Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, a colony of albino Japanese rat snakes has lived around the castle district since at least the Edo period. Hundreds of white snakes inhabit the area, a natural population of albinos that has sustained itself for centuries. Local tradition holds them as messengers of Benzaiten enshrined at nearby Shiroyama Shrine. They have been protected for as long as anyone can remember, and the colony is designated a Natural Monument of Japan.

The snakes are not caged. They move through the grounds of the castle district, appearing on walls and in gardens. Seeing one is still treated as an omen of good fortune, the same belief that holds at Enoshima and at Benzaiten shrines across the country.