Treasure Chests of Fuji Culture
Fujisan Hongu Sengen-taisha Shrine
Fujisan Hongu Sengen-taisha Shrine is the head shrine of Japan’s Sengen shrine network. Its precincts include everything on the mountain above the 8th Station. In ancient times, it was the chief shrine of Suruga Province. The main sanctuary is an Important Cultural Property, built in the early seventeenth century under the patronage of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), founder of the Tokugawa shogunate.
The shrine also owns the Fuji Pilgrimage Mandala (Fuji sankei mandara), painted by Kano Motonobu (1476–1559). It depicts crowds of white-clad pilgrims performing suigyo (purifying immersion and ablutions) before climbing the south face of Fuji.