It was written in Chinese, the scholarly language of the time, by the Japanese Buddhist monk Kōkei in 1047 AD.
The villagers were plagued for a period of a thousand-some years by a destructive, five-headed dragon (Gozuryu:五頭竜) that had its lair in a nearby lake.
Aware of their suffering, on May 31, 552 AD, the Goddess Benzaiten caused the island of Enoshima to arise from the bottom of the bay to serve as her abode.
Benzaiten, who was widely known for her persuasive eloquence, rejected the dragon's proposal and made it understand that it had been doing wrong by plaguing the villagers.
Among the visitors was Jikaku Daishi (慈覺大師), the posthumous name of Ennin (圓仁, 792-862 AD), the third chief priest of Enryaku-ji (延暦寺), the center of Buddhism in Japan.