Nakasendo 2024

Mt Fuji to Tokyo

Time to say goodbye to Chieko and all the lovely staff at Mt Fuji Satoyama vacations, and the very comfortable tents we had slept in.

And one last chance to get a glimpse of Mt Fuji (which wasn’t visible today, so we were very lucky yesterday!)

Chieko took us to the largest shrine in the area, which was the principal shrine for Mt Fuji.

While we were there, there were some families celebrating the “ confirmation” of their daughters. (They have ceremonies for when a child turns 3, 5 and 7 years of age. The 3 year old was a real cutie.

The shrine itself, called the Fujisan Sengen Shrine is located in Fujinomiya City in the southwestern foothills of Mount Fuji. Originally built over 1000 years ago for the protection from volcanic eruptions, it has become the region’s most important shrine and the head shrine of over 1300 Sengen and Asama shrines nationwide. The shrine is also a traditional starting point for climbing Mount Fuji.

The Inner Shrine features a unique, two-story construction built in the Sengen architectural style, so named after the shrine. We were told that the god of the shrine lives on the second floor.

The shrine is surrounded by a beautiful pond and gardens. People come to get water from there (which comes from Mt Fuji)

There was a young man wading through the pond in a fly fishing outfit and we asked him why he was there. He was doing research on the macro invertebrates found in the pond for the local council.

At the shrine you can buy little tags for any occasion….better fortune, better health, a successful pregnancy and so on. And we found another cute little girl who offered us leaves from the ground.

A quick lunch of fried noodles at the local mall…

And then we went to visit a green tea plantation ( where there were also heaps of cabbages)

We visited the tea house which belonged to the plantation, and were shown how to prepare green tea properly. The owner was a charming lady, whose wish was for her tea to become known outside the region. So she was thrilled to learn we were from Australia. It turned out she was the same age as Julie and I!

Time for Lesley and I to return to Tokyo, and James and Julie to go on to Nagoya.

Sayonara Japan.