car recommended.
FEES Most properties are free (a charge is being considered for ascent of Mt Fuji).
INFORMATION Shizuoka World Heritage division tel. (054) 221-3746. Yamanashi World Heritage division tel. (055) 223-1316. Volunteer guide for Lake Kawaguchi area: [email protected]. Wikitravel has a comprehensive webpage. For a self-guided tour from Tokyo, see the Fuji page of www.go-japango.com.travel.
Symmetrical and snow-capped, Mt Fuji is an iconic symbol of Japan. Since ancient times it’s been held in awe, and many Japanese harbor the desire to climb it at least once in their life. It was previously nominated as a Natural Heritage site but environmental problems necessitated rethinking the application as a Cultural Heritage site based on its religious and artistic significance.
Fuji’s religious role stems from the country’s animist tradition of mountain worship, prompted not only by its dominating presence but by its volcanic activity. Since 781 there have been 17 recorded eruptions, the last being in 1707, and to appease the mountain deity Sengen shrines were built around the base.
Of the eight shrines in the World Heritage registration, Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha is the most important. Established at its present location in 806, it boasts an unusual two-storey sanctuary as well as ponds fed by underground water from Mt Fuji. It stands at the head of some 1,300 Sengen shrines nationwide.
From the twelfth century, as volcanic activity lessened, the mountain became a base for mountain asceticism (shugendo), which mixes esoteric Buddhism with Taoism and worship of kami (divine spirits or Shino deities). ‘Entering the mountain’ is seen as a form of death and rebirth, by which the old self is killed off and the practitioner returns spiritually enhanced. After the fifteenth century, ordinary people became involved, led on pilgrimages by a shugendo practitioner. Around this time, the mountain deity became conflated with a mythological princess called Konohanasakuya-hime because of her association with beauty.
By the eighteenth century there was a flourishing Fuji-ko sect. The founder, Hasegawa Kakugyo (1541–1646), did austerities in a small cave at Hitoana, now a registered property, where he had a mystic vision of Fuji as the divine fount of life. Followers were encouraged to do ritualised pilgrimages, and stone markers record their names and the number of worship-ascents.
Amongst other Fuji sites listed with UNESCO are two ‘lava mould caves’ in which trees once covered by lava have rotted to form hollow openings. Here, within the ‘womb’ of Konohanasakuyahime, sect members were symbolically reborn. Elsewhere, purification rites were performed at the Shiraito Falls and at the Oshino Hakkai Springs, fed by underground water from Fuji.
Fuji-ko members were organised into confraternities, for whom guides called Oshi facilitated arrangements. In the town of Fujiyoshida, there were once 86 Oshi lodging houses but today only a handful remain. Ascents of Fuji used to start from one of the Sengen shrines, though nowadays most of the 300,000 climbers drive up to the 5th station. The climbing season is July and August and at peak times, such as weekends, the trail is congested and mountain huts booked out.
Shizuoka fields ripen in the summer sunshine, while behind them snow covers the graceful slopes of Mt Fuji. The climbing season is limited to July and August when the snow has melted.
The replica of a sailing ship on which Europeans once traveled to Japan adds an exotic touch to viewing trips of Mt Fuji on Lake Ashi.
In the past, Fuji Sengen Jinja at Subashiri was one of the main starting points for ascent of the mountain. Extensively damaged by the eruption of 1707, it was rebuilt in 1718.
It’s said that Kawaguchi Asama Shrine was built after eruptions in the ninth century to appease the mountain deity. In the late middle ages, the area became a center for guides called Oshi who led pilgrim-ascents of the volcano.
Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha is notable for its distinctive architecture and pond fed by spring water from the mountain. It stands at the head of over 1,300 shrines nationwide dedicated to Mt Fuji.
One of the fascinations of Fuji is that views can change dramatically, not only from season to season but even during the course of a single day.
Watching the sunrise from the summit is the goal of many climbers, and Goraiko (the coming of light) above the clouds can be a magical experience, shared with hundreds of others.
The volcanic slopes, devoid of vegetation, do not require special climbing skills but can be strenuous near the summit because of the thin air.
Alongside its religious role, Mt Fuji has loomed large in the poetic imagination, inspiring medieval folk tales and the haiku of Matsuo Basho. Already in the eighth-century anthology Manyoshu, reference can be found to Fuji’s divinity.
In the land of Yamato,
It is our treasure, our tutelary god.
It never tires our eyes to look up
To the lofty peak of Mount Fuji.
The mountain also has a long tradition of artistic representation, in which the Fuji Five Lakes play an important role. Scenic viewspots show Fuji’s many guises reflected in the shimmering water, and a scene from Lake Motosu is printed on Japan’s ¥1000 note. Another viewpoint, 28 miles (45 km) away on the coast, is Miho no Matsubara which was popular in the past for Fuji sketches featuring the pines on its beach (associated with the Hagoromo legend about a feathered robe).
The most celebrated pictures, however, are the ukiyo-e paintings by Hokusai Katsushika and Hiroshige Utagawa, who both did Thirty-six Views of Fuji. The latter also produced a series of Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, which served to imprint the mountain on the modern consciousness, not only in Japan but abroad through its influence on Post-Impressionists. Once a feared volcano, the beauty of ‘Fuji-san’ now bewitches the wider world.
In the past, Fuji could be seen from street level in Tokyo but nowadays views can only be had from observatories on the city’s high-rise buildings.
The Shiraito Falls
