Mt Fuji Japan 4/15/24

 

Mt. Fuji, Japan 

Our welcome to the port of Shimizu, home of Mt. Fuji.  Our captain received a certificate of appreciation from the local authorities.  It really is cool all of the ports that have welcoming groups for us...getting spoiled!  I wonder what Greyhawk and the BOC will have planned for us???

Mt. Fuji is nothing short of majestic. It’s beautiful full shape billowing out like a hoop dress on a Southern Belle. Mt. Fuji stands proud at 12,388 ft, making it the tallest mountain in Japan. Mt. Fuji is still classified as an active volcano and part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, but the last time it erupted was over 300 years ago.

You can only climb Mt. Fuji from early July to mid-September; however, anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 manage to climb it during that short period every year (with the exception of COVID years). Most people are surprised to find out that even though most of Mt. Fuji is public land, the top of Mt. Fuji is private property that belongs to Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha, a Shinto shrine. However, even with the courts awarding it to the Shinto shrine, they have been unable to register it as private property since the exact boundaries cannot be known.

We started out at Lake Tanuki, one of the most popular photo stops for Mt Fuji.  It is an open park area, and there were many campers set up enjoying the scenery and wonderful weather.  

A fun fact about Mt. Fuji is that there is a tiny post office at the top that will stamp postcards and letters. Unfortunately, the closest we got to the peak of Mt. Fuji was the Mt. Fuji Heritage Center, approximately one hour away from the peak., so no postcards for the grands.  The Mt. Fuji Heritage Center was built in 2017 and is a spectacular piece of architectural art.

More photographs of Mt Fuji, the top right picture was taken by Mary Ann Mobilian, a fellow passenger and now a very good friend.  The others are courtesy of Telah Morrison.  They were just so good I had to share.

We then headed to Shiraito and Otodome Falls.  The falls were regarded sacred under the Fuji cult.  Mickey made it all the way down to the falls, I snapped pictures from the top.  The one on the right is Shiraito Falls and the left is Otodome Falls.

Our last stop of the day was Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha, the Shinto shrine that owns the peak of Mt. Fuji. The shrine was adorned with ponds and gates, as well as the incense burners and prayer stations. The shrine was built in order to soothe the mountain’s wrath by enshrining Asama-no-okami, the first kami (deity) of Mount Fuji. Nowadays, the Shinto site is dedicated to Fuji-san’s deity, the princess Konohana-no-Sakuya.

Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha is one of the most important places of worship in Japan and is the head shrine of the 1,300 secondary Asama and Sengen shrines throughout the archipelago. The shrines built above the 8th station of Mount Fuji are also part of its compound. Moreover, the sacred site was an ancient starting point for pilgrims to climb Fuji-san.

The bronze is a statue depicting the art of yabusame, which is a type of mounted archery.  The archer on a running horse shoots three special arrows successfully at three wooden targets.  I thought it was cool.

A very restful area to contemplate and relax..

We head to Osaka tomorrow, which is our last stop in Japan and then 4 days at sea on to Vietnam.