Treasure Chests of Fuji Culture
Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine
The early tenth-century chronicle Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku states that after the Jogan Eruption of 864, a “shrine to Sengen Myojin” (another name for Asama no Kami) was constructed in the “Yatsushiro District of Kai Province.” Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine, which faces Mt. Fuji from across Lake Kawaguchiko, lies just beyond the extent of the lava flow, and is oriented toward the cluster of mountainside craters opened by that eruption. It is therefore believed to be the shrine named in the chronicle, built to pacify the volcanic deity.