One of Benzaiten's most vivid stories belongs specifically to the island of Enoshima, and it is preserved in the medieval temple history known as the Enoshima Engi. In it, a five headed dragon lived in the marshland near the coast, terrorizing local villages by causing floods and demanding sacrifice. When Benzaiten descended from heaven and settled on a newly risen island offshore, Enoshima itself, said to have appeared out of the sea, the dragon fell in love with her and asked for her hand; when she refused, judging his behavior toward the villagers unacceptable, he vowed to change his ways, and only after this reform, the legend says, did she agree to be his consort.
The dragon transformed into a hill on the mainland facing the island, still known today as Tatsu-no-kuchi, dragon's mouth, in the Koshigoe area of Kamakura, and the floods and disasters he had caused reportedly ceased. Whatever its historical basis, and no serious study treats it as literal history, the tale functions as an origin story binding Benzaiten permanently to this one stretch of coastline, explaining both the sudden appearance of the sacred island and the taming of the region's flood-prone geography, and it is retold today in guidebooks and shrine literature associated with Enoshima. The pattern, a water deity subduing a destructive dragon through marriage and moral reform rather than combat, distinguishes this legend from the more violent dragon-slaying myths found elsewhere in East Asian tradition.