Arakurayama Sengen Kōen and Chūreitō

photo by ::::=UT=:::: · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) · CC BY-SA 4.0

The pagoda holds the memorial tablets of 1,055 war dead from four wars, from 1868 to the Pacific War.

Three hundred and ninety-eight steps (the ‘Princess Sakuya stairway’, about 200 metres) climb to the five-storey pagoda, 19.5 metres tall. Inside rest the tablets of 1,055 dead from Fujiyoshida in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, the First World War and the Pacific War, remembered every September in a ceremony. From the platform, the shot of torii, cherry trees and Fuji that is the most photographed in Japan sits alongside the reason the pagoda was built.

City park in the municipality of Fujiyoshida, opened in October 1959; the memorial tower (忠霊塔) that gives it its common name was promoted from 1958 by a citizens' committee chaired by the mayor. The pagoda was built in reinforced concrete between 1959 and 1962, modelled on Shitennō-ji in Osaka, and funded partly by the sale of a municipal forest and partly by a public subscription among the city's residents.

ℹ️ The park is always open and free. The climb up the 398 steps takes 15–20 minutes; there is no alternative route for those who cannot manage stairs. The cherry blossom, seen together with the pagoda and Fuji, comes between late March and early April.

🚉 Shimoyoshida · 10 min walk

Sources: ja.wikipedia.org · senseki-kikou.net

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