“Oshi” Lodging House and Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine starting at Fujiyoshida
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
197 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 55
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.
A 197 km round trip from Fujiyoshida - roughly 2 h 55 in the saddle. On the way it passes Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki, Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine, Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine and back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. “Oshi” Lodging House
Mount Fuji has been a place of pilgrimage for a thousand years, and the lodging houses in Fujiyoshida are what the pilgrims used. Believers in the Fuji cult, called the Fuji-kō, travelled in confraternities from Edo and farther away, and when they reached the foot of the mountain they stayed with an oshi, a guide and priest who arranged their prayers, their meals and their climb. The streets of old Kamiyoshida still have a few of these houses, with deep entrances, long rooms and a small shrine inside, designed for groups to eat, sleep and prepare. UNESCO lists one of them as part of the Fujisan cultural landscape.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
“Oshi” Lodging House is where the day begins. Next is Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki.
2. Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki
Deep in the lava forests on the western foot of Mount Fuji there is a cave formed when molten rock flowed down the slopes and its crust cooled while the interior drained away. The Hitoana lava tube is small and low, but in the sixteenth century an ascetic called Hasegawa Kakugyo is said to have practised extreme austerities inside it, and he became the founder figure of the Fuji-ko, the popular confraternities whose members climbed Fuji as an act of worship. Around the cave entrance stand hundreds of stone memorials erected by Fuji-ko groups over the centuries, mossy and leaning among the trees. The site is one of the components of the World Heritage listing Fujisan, Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine.
3. Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine
On the southern flank of Mount Fuji, above the town of Susono, a quiet shrine stands among tall cedar trees at the start of one of the oldest climbing routes on the mountain. The Suyama Sengen-jinja is dedicated to the goddess of Fuji and marks the beginning of the Suyama trail, used by pilgrims for centuries before falling into disuse in the twentieth century and being partly revived in recent years. It is one of the component sites of Fujisan, Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration, listed by UNESCO in 2013.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine. Next is Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine.
4. 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
“Oshi” Lodging House closes the day.
Leg by leg
“Oshi” Lodging House to Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki
“Oshi” Lodging House → Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki to Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine
Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki → Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine to Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine
Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine → Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine to back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine
Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine → back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine to back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki
back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine → back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki to “Oshi” Lodging House
back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki → “Oshi” Lodging House is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.