Island Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
Cats in Enoshima
The cat island you can do from Tokyo before lunch: a small rock off the Shōnan coast with a shrine, a cave, a view of Fuji on a clear day, and a handful of well-fed cats in the shrine precincts and the alleys.
Where to find cats in Enoshima: Enoshima, a small island joined to the mainland by a bridge at Katase, on the Shōnan coast an hour from Shinjuku. When: A weekday morning, out of the summer beach season. Winter for the clearest view of Fuji. Why here: The gentlest introduction to Japan’s cat islands: no ferry, no planning, and cats in the shrine grounds by the time you have climbed the first steps.
The short version
- Where
- Enoshima, a small island joined to the mainland by a bridge at Katase, on the Shōnan coast an hour from Shinjuku
- When
- A weekday morning, out of the summer beach season. Winter for the clearest view of Fuji
- How long
- Half a day. Two hours on the island, and the rest is the train and the seafront
- What it costs
- The train, about ¥650 each way from Shinjuku. The shrine paths are free; the cave and the lighthouse have small tickets
- Why here
- The gentlest introduction to Japan’s cat islands: no ferry, no planning, and cats in the shrine grounds by the time you have climbed the first steps
What to bring
- An early Odakyu trainKatase-Enoshima is the end of the line. About seventy minutes from Shinjuku on the express, an hour on the Romancecar.
- Shoes for stepsThe island is a rock and the shrine is at the top of it. There are escalators, for a fee, if the steps are too much.
- Modest expectationsA handful of cats, not a hundred. This is a day out with cats in it, not a cat island in the Tashirojima sense.
- Coins for the shrineEnoshima Shrine is one of the three great Benzaiten shrines of Japan. Five yen at the offering box is the custom.
Why there are cats everywhere
Enoshima’s cats are the leftovers of a bad decade, looked after into a good one.
The island is a lump of rock a few hundred metres off the beach at Katase, joined by a bridge, with a Shinto shrine climbing its spine and a cave at the far end where a dragon is said to live. It has been a pilgrimage site and a day trip for centuries, and from the 1980s it became a place where people from the city left cats they no longer wanted. The number grew until it was a problem, and then the islanders, the shrine and a volunteer group started feeding, neutering and watching over them, and the number settled into what it is now: a few dozen community cats, fed, healthy and unbothered.
They are in the shrine precincts, on the steps between the three shrines that make up Enoshima-jinja, around the observation lighthouse in the garden at the top, and down at the far end near Chigogafuchi, where the rocks meet the sea. They are not a crowd. They are the cats of a well-run small place, and meeting three or four on the way up is a good morning.
What the island has that the real cat islands do not is everything else: a working shrine, a botanical garden with a lighthouse, a cave with a dragon, a view across Sagami Bay to Mount Fuji, and a seafront at the bottom with shirasu, whitebait, on every menu. It is an hour from Shinjuku, and it is on this list because it is where somebody in Tokyo with a free morning should start.
The walk
Over the bridge, up the shrine steps to the top of the island, through the garden to the lighthouse, and down the far side to the cave and the rocks. Two hours, with cats at the top and the bottom.
- From ShinjukuOdakyu line to Katase-Enoshima70 minExpress to Fujisawa and change, or the Romancecar direct in an hour. About ¥650, or ¥1,400 on the Romancecar.
- From KamakuraThe Enoden tram along the coast to Enoshima station25 minThe pretty way, and the way to combine two days out in one.
- From Katase-Enoshima stationWalk to the bridge and over15 minAlong the seafront. The station itself is built like a dragon palace, which is a clue.
The bridge
From the station, ten minutes along the seafront and over the bridge to the island. The approach street on the far side is stalls and shirasu shops. The cats start where the steps do.
The island, from the beach. The shrine is on the ridge.Aimaimyi, CC BY-SA 3.0 Enoshima Shrine
Up the steps through the bronze torii to the first of the three shrines, Hetsumiya. Cats on the steps and in the precinct, the tamest on the island. Keep climbing to the second and third.
The big red cat, near the shrine. He has been photographed more than the shrine.Maarten Heerlien from Voorschoten, The Netherlands, CC BY 2.0 The Sea Candle and the garden
At the top, the Samuel Cocking garden and the observation lighthouse, the Sea Candle. Fuji on a clear day. Cats in the garden beds and on the warm paths.
Near the top. The view is behind the cat; the cat does not care.Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France, CC BY 2.0 Chigogafuchi
Down the far side of the island to the rock shelf at the sea, and the Iwaya caves beyond. Cats on the steps down and around the shops at the bottom. Then back, or the little boat to the bridge if it is running.
The far end. Fewer people, same cats.Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France, CC BY 2.0
Same numbers as the list. Worth keeping open on your phone.
The cats you will meet
A few dozen community cats, neutered and fed by the islanders and a volunteer group, on a rock the size of a park. Ginger, tabby and black, mostly, sleek and calm, and used to being the second attraction after the view.
Shrine cats
Tabby and ginger, on the steps.
The tame ones, around the three shrines. They have never been chased off a step.
The big red cat
Ginger, enormous, unhurried.
Every visit has one. Whether it is the same one is a matter of faith.
Cave-end cats
Leaner, near the rocks.
Down at Chigogafuchi with the fishermen. Shyer.
Everybody says Enoshima is one of Japan’s cat islands.
Actually It is on the lists because it is easy to reach, not because it is full of cats. There are a few dozen, well looked after, in the shrine grounds and the alleys. Tashirojima has ten times as many and takes a day. Enoshima has a shrine, a cave, Fuji and a train home by dinner.
How not to be the annoying one
- It is a shrine. The cats are on sacred ground, and so are you: quiet, and no feeding in the precincts.
- The volunteers feed them. If you must, dry food, a little, away from the shops.
- Do not follow a cat down the rocks at Chigogafuchi. The shelf is slippery and the cats are better at it.
- The escalators cost money and save your knees. Nobody will judge you.
