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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Shizuoka
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The annual burn starts inside the crater, creating a refuge if people or animals remain on the slopes. Then crews light the outer slope, and the whole mountain burns in about 40 minutes.
At nearby Sakura-no-Sato, a natural “lava omelet” shows dark scoria trapped inside smoother lava. It formed when lava engulfed and carried loose volcanic fragments during Ōmuro’s eruption; Itō City protects it as a natural monument.
Of roughly 2,000 Asama shrines in Japan, most honor Fuji’s Konohanasakuya-hime. The small shrine inside Ōmuro’s crater instead enshrines her elder sister, Iwanagahime.
Ōmuro’s eruption released about 380 million m³ of lava. Much escaped from foothill vents near Iwamuro and Moriyama, not the summit crater; the flows smoothed valleys into Izu Kōgen and reached the sea to form Jōgasaki Coast.
Ōmuro is a monogenetic volcano: its cone formed in one eruptive episode, rather than through repeated eruptions from the same vent. Japan recognizes it as a classic example of this volcanic style.
A local account says five life-size Buddhist statues near the old summit path were placed about 300 years ago in thanks after a family prayed at Ōmuro’s crater shrine for a safe childbirth.
Local tradition says coastal fishermen offered the summit’s Yatsugatake Jizō statues while facing Oshima, praying for safe voyages and protection from shipwrecks—a sailor’s plea remembered high above the sea.
Residents distinguished short, sun-grown kogaya from taller tawaragaya. Kogaya roofed houses, fed cattle and fertilized fields; tawaragaya became charcoal sacks for fuel shipped from Hachiman-no to Edo.
After cutting thatch on the mountain, residents used improvised bamboo sleds to bring it downhill. The simple home-built haulage system is remembered in a reconstructed illustration on the mountain’s official site.
Local accounts say Ōmuro’s grass-burning tradition is about 700 years old, originally renewing thatch and controlling pests. When thatch faded from daily use, residents formed a preservation society in 1980 to continue it.
Local fire crews use a roughly 1.5-metre twig tool with its leafy tip folded and tied to beat out flames. The traditional implement was also used for field-burning and fire control.
Ōmuro’s grass-covered slopes host more than 100 kinds of wildflowers. The mountain’s guide notes both spring and autumn “seven herbs,” as well as flowers such as lilies and gentians.
