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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Yamanashi
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Shrine records say young parishioners once lowered a carved dragon into Lake Kawaguchi at Jōshinba to ask the dragon deity for rain. The August 11 Dragon Festival there now prays for stable weather.
The guardian figures at the gate are unusually small. Local legend says Mt. Fuji shrank them as punishment after they became close to Benzaiten, the goddess enshrined on nearby Unoshima Island.
The shrine owns 2 handwritten prayers by Takeda Shingen asking for safe childbirth for his daughter Huangmeiin, who married Hōjō Ujimasa. Dedicated in 1557 and 1566, both are prefectural cultural properties.
Beneath a lava-stone pedestal at the local Katayama Shrine, archaeologists found a sealed cavity holding quartz, inscribed stones, and a spear-tip-shaped iron object. They think it may have protected the site, but its exact purpose is unknown.
The shrine traces its mounted-archery offering to 1087. After it stopped in 1897, it returned in 1980; today the April 29 event sends riders past targets at nearby Shikkogo Park.
Unlike many Sengen shrines, this shrine is oriented so worshippers pray with Mt. Fuji behind them. A cultural guide explains the local belief: Fuji’s kami descended each day to dwell inside the shrine.
Excavators found clusters of old coins in the forest behind the mountain precinct. With no building foundations there, Yamanashi archaeologists suggest people may have scattered offerings at a small shrine or other sacred spot.
The shrine’s Motomiya is on Mt. Fuji’s 2nd station, while its Satomiya stands by Lake Kawaguchi. UNESCO recognizes both precincts together as part of Mt. Fuji’s World Heritage story.
Built at Mt. Fuji’s 2nd station in 1612, the main hall faced harsh winters and difficult upkeep. It was moved to the lakeside Satomiya in 1973–74 for preservation and is now a National Important Cultural Property.
The shrine’s tradition dates its mountain sanctuary to 699, when Fujiwara no Yoshitada is said to have enshrined it at Mt. Fuji’s 2nd station. Yamanashi describes it as the oldest shrine on the mountain.
The shrine owns Katsuyamaki, a prefecture-designated chronicle whose timeline stretches from 568 to 1559. It records more than battles: its pages describe local weather, disasters, epidemics, and life around Mt. Fuji’s northern foothills.
