Oshino Hakkai and Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki starting at Fujiyoshida
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
72 km
Riding-time estimate
1 h 14
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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Fujiyoshida it runs 72 km to Fujiyoshida; allow about 1 h 14 of riding. It goes by way of Fujisan, Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki and back through Fujisan. 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. Oshino Hakkai
Eight ponds of astonishingly clear water lie in the village of Oshino, at the northern foot of Mount Fuji, and the water in them is snowmelt from the mountain, filtered for many years through layers of volcanic rock before welling up here. The Oshino Hakkai, the eight seas of Oshino, were once part of a lake that dried up, and they became places of pilgrimage for people climbing Fuji, who purified themselves in the springs before their ascent. They are included in UNESCO's inscription of Fujisan as a place of worship and source of artistic inspiration.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Oshino Hakkai 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 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki.
3. 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.