Benten Jinja

History

Lake Shikaribetsu, in Japan’s Daisetsuzan National Park in the Tokachi region of Hokkaido, is a natural lake sitting at an elevation of roughly 810 meters — the highest of any lake in Hokkaido. Spanning the northern part of Shikaoi and the southwestern part of neighboring Kamishihoro, it has long been revered by the Ainu people as sacred ground, at times described as forbidden territory.

Near the center of the lake, on the Shikaoi side, floats a tiny rocky islet known as Bentenjima, only about 20 meters in circumference. Partway up its steep, dockless slope sits a small hokora, or wayside shrine — this is Benten Jinja. According to the town history of Shikaoi, the shrine’s sacred object was enshrined here as a divided spirit received from a shrine in Shimane Prefecture, and it is dedicated to Benzaiten, a deity of water, the arts, and wealth.

Benzaiten’s incarnation is said to be a white snake, and Benten Jinja is affectionately known locally as “Hakuja-hime,” the White Snake Princess. Behind this name lies an Ainu legend passed down in the area: long ago, when the Ainu people living at the foot of Lake Shikaribetsu faced a severe famine, a goddess, moved by their suffering, sent a white snake to guide the starving villagers to this lake, abundant with oshorokoma (a local char), saving them from hunger. In honor of this story, the Hakuja-hime Festival is held every July on the lakeshore, featuring a dance offering with two white snake effigies — 13 and 8 meters long — and a dancer playing the princess, together with a kamuy-nomi Ainu ceremony, traditional Ainu folk dances, and performances on the mukkuri, a traditional Ainu instrument. The overlap of Shinto devotion to Benzaiten and this Ainu legend of a white snake is what makes this small island so distinctive.

An Island Shrine Open Just One Day a Year

Bentenjima is a bare rocky islet, with no dock and steep sides rising straight from the water, measuring only about 20 meters around. Ordinary visitors cannot freely set foot on it; the usual way to visit is to view its small torii gate from the lakeshore path or from a sightseeing boat.

A formal landing takes place mainly around the Hakuja-hime Festival each July, when shrine-affiliated parties charter a boat to cross to Bentenjima and hold a prayer ceremony before the shrine. The festival itself, held on a stage along the lakeshore, is a public event steeped in Ainu culture — but ordinary festivalgoers do not accompany that prayer ceremony onto the island.

In some recent years, the local hot spring innkeepers’ association (Shikaribetsu-ko Onsen Ryokan Association) has organized a special guided landing tour in autumn, and the Shikaribetsu-ko Nature Center has run winter snowshoe treks across the frozen lake surface to the island. These, however, are limited special programs, constrained by safety concerns around capacity and timing, rather than a guaranteed annual offering. Attempting to land on the island independently, out of mere curiosity, is strongly discouraged given the unstable footing and the dangers of the freezing season; anyone hoping to make a sincere visit should first contact the Shikaribetsu-ko Nature Center (phone: 0156-69-8181).

A Recent TV Spotlight

On September 2, 2026, Bentenjima was featured on Fuji Television’s variety program Kiseki Taiken! Unbelievable, in a segment called “Nippon Mystery File SP,” which introduced it as a lone shrine standing on a vast lake and explored its little-known history and the feelings of the people connected to it. A regional broadcast in the Kansai area on September 13 of the same year also covered it, under the title “A Shrine Alone on a Cliff!? Special Access to Forbidden Ground.” Through these broadcasts, a sacred site rarely seen up close reached viewers across the country. That said, this is a shrine with a history recorded in the local town chronicles, and its recent television appearance is only a brief glimpse into a much longer story.

Visiting and Goshuin

Benten Jinja has no resident priest or shrine office, and no goshuin are issued. As noted above, the shrine grounds on Bentenjima Island can only be entered on the rare occasions such as the annual prayer ceremony, so a typical visit means viewing the torii gate from the lakeshore path or a sightseeing boat. For the latest information on any landing programs run by the Shikaribetsu-ko Nature Center or the local ryokan association, it’s best to contact those organizations directly. Reaching the lake itself is difficult by public transportation alone, so renting a car from central Obihiro is the practical option.

Nearby Food & Sightseeing

• Lake Shikaribetsu Onsen: A small hot spring resort of a few lakeside inns. The local ryokan association organizes the area’s tourism programs, including the occasional Bentenjima landing tour, and staying here is a relaxed way to take in the lake’s scenery.
• Shikaribetsu-ko Nature Center: The starting point for canoeing, sightseeing boats, and guided nature tours, and also the point of contact for questions about visiting or viewing Bentenjima.
• Shikaribetsu-ko Kotan: An “ice village” that rises on the frozen surface of Lake Shikaribetsu each deep winter, complete with an open-air ice bath and an ice bar — a seasonal highlight made possible only because the lake freezes solid.