Our 307th entry in our digital diary is our first time visit to Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Jinja Shrine in Yamanashi, Japan.

We joined a tour group together with Ate Rei and Sai’s school mates. Our Filipino driver said that this shrine is the first one here in Yamanashi. The spiritual center of Fujiyoshida with a history of over 1,900 years. 🙂

This shrine is said to have had its start in 100 A.D., when a small shrine was built to celebrate the visit of prince Yamato Takeru-no Mikoto to this hill when he was on his way to Kai Province from Hakone. Imagine how long ago that was, and we are still seeing the shrine up to this day, more than a thousand years. 🙂

In 788, an altar was built to enshrine Sengen God at the present site to halt the frequent eruptions of Mt. Fuji. It played a role in the development of Fujiko, a religious sect focused on Mount Fuji worship, according to Wikipedia.

There are a lot of people who are praying inside the shrine, so we just stayed outside as Ate Rei and Sai may be noisy, teasing each other. hehe. 🙂

While Mt. Fuji had been worshipped since ancient times and regarded as sacred, with the rise of mountain worship, people eventually began climbing mountain for ascetic training and this shrine became a basis of Mt. Fuji worship.

The kids are writing their prayers and placed them in the box so that Mt. Fuji gods might grant their wishes. hehe. 🙂

In the Edo era, “Fuji-ko” worship gained explosive popularity and this area flourished as its sacred spot. The site was designated as one of Mt. Fuji World Heritage Site Assets in 2013.

This shrine is one of approximately 1,300 Asama shrines dedicated to the deity of volcanoes, specifically Mount Fuji. I wonder if we have visited some of these thousand shrines already. hehe. 🙂

The trees surrounding the area are very tall, it seems like this is a sacred and secret place. hehe. And that is our quick visit to Kitaguchi Hongu Shrine. Hope we can visit again soon and already go inside its shrine to see its history. 🙂