Benzaiten (弁才天, 弁財天) is a Japanese Buddhist goddess, who originated from the Hindu goddess Saraswati. The Shinobzu Pond at Ueno Park has a temple of Saraswati. Floating on the water of the pond, it is a Buddhist temple dedicated to Saraswati the goddess of the arts, knowledge and wisdom. Japanese of todays generation, pray to her for success in examination and good fortune. As with most of the popular locations of Tokyo, the original 17th century temple which was built by the feudal lord then was destroyed in the air raids of Tokyo. Today a reconstructed temple is from 1958.
If you  enter the main hall, a long vertical rope as below and a red lantern (chochin) are located. Wake up the gods with the vertical rope which is part of a bell. The spirits have to be awakened, quite similar to a Hindu temple in India. Do not miss the golden dragon or ‘Kin Ryu’ on the ceiling of the temple.The temple is so beautiful in the night time. Although the doors shut by 17:00 in the evening, the overall ambience of the temple and the surrounding pond is quite relaxing. Saraswati is the goddesses always depicted with a musical instrument and in Japan also she is depicted with a musical instrument. Note the music instrument biwa on the left side in an upright position. If the glare of the light is too much see it in the first snap of this post. That is probably the clearer view of the same.
The temple surrounded by a pond is illuminated in the evening. Visit in the days of the lotus flower bloom which is usually in the month of August end.Beautiful lotus flowers bloom them. The Indian depiction always shows Saraswati seated on a lotus flower while Benzaiten is also mentioned as part of the Lotus sutra, so these flowers are very apt outside the shrine. See the flowers around the shrine in the below snap….The beautiful flowers at Shinobazu Pond….
Night time view of the pond around the temple with the residential buildings in background. In the days of Cherry Blossoms you cannot get such a peaceful setup, only in the off season.
Location : The location of this temple is 5 minutes walk from Ueno Koen exit at Ueno Station. See the google maps below.