Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine and Fujisan Moutain Area
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
298 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 04
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
298 km from Fujikawaguchiko to Fujikawaguchiko, about 5 h 04 of riding. The stops in between: Fujisan, Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine, Fujisan Moutain Area and back through Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine
Mount Fuji was never meant to be seen only from a distance, and the shrines at its foot are where the older idea of the mountain as a god survives. The Kawaguchi Asama-jinja sits among tall old cedars on the north side, near Lake Kawaguchi, one of the five lakes that ring the mountain's northern foot, and it is one of the shrines that were used by pilgrims before they began the climb. The deity honoured at the Asama shrines is Konohanasakuya-hime, the princess of the blossoming trees, who is linked with the mountain and its volcanic fire.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine is where the day begins. Next is Fujisan.
2. Fujisan
At 3,776 metres, Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan, and its almost perfectly symmetrical cone has been a sacred symbol and an artistic inspiration for centuries. UNESCO listed Fujisan in 2013 as a cultural site, a place of worship and source of artistic inspiration, rather than for its natural beauty alone, recognising the shrines, pilgrim trails, lakes and springs around the mountain, and the woodblock prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige that made its image famous around the world.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fujisan comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine.
3. Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine
Mount Fuji has been worshipped as a sacred mountain for as long as people have lived beneath it, and the Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha in Fujinomiya is the head shrine of that worship, the principal sanctuary of over a thousand Sengen shrines across Japan. Its main hall, rebuilt in the early seventeenth century under the patronage of Tokugawa Ieyasu, has an unusual two-storey design, painted in vermilion and set among tall trees. The shrine is dedicated to Konohanasakuya-hime, a goddess associated with the mountain, with blossoms and with fire.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 113 km into the recorded legs you reach Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine. Next is Fujisan Moutain Area.
4. Fujisan Moutain Area
Mount Fuji does not have an edge. From the north side, near Fujiyoshida, it simply grows out of the forest in one long unbroken slope, and on a clear morning it looks too big to be real. The roads around it are better than most people expect. The Fuji Five Lakes sit like a necklace on the northern flank, with Kawaguchiko the busiest and Saiko and Shojiko the quietest, and the road circling them gives long views of the cone over the water. Fujiyoshida, about eleven kilometres away, has the fuel, the noodles, the hot springs and the shrine at Kitaguchi Hongu Sengen, an old pilgrim gateway where climbers once prayed before starting up.