Geisha studio portrait, late 19th century, Via Okinawa Soba, FLICKR. Benzaiten is a female kami to Shinto with the name Ichikishima-hime-no-mikoto (市杵島姫命).[1] Also, she is believed by Tendai Buddhism to be the essence of kami Ugajin, whose effigy she sometimes carries on her head together with a torii