Oshino Hakkai

photo by 663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by lumoplank · CC0

Eight ponds born of Fuji's snowmelt, where pilgrims purified themselves before the climb.

Eight ponds of spring water, from snowmelt that filters through Fuji's volcanic rock, dot the village of Oshino: the clearest, Wakuike (湧池), hides an underwater cavity of about 55 metres.

Village in the municipality of Oshino, at the foot of Fuji; the eight ponds have been a national Natural Monument since 1934 and components of the Fuji UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013. From the Edo period the round of the eight ponds was a stop on the Fuji pilgrimage for the purification rite (misogi), codified in 1843. A legend has it that an ancient lake split in two (Lake Yamanaka and these ponds) in the eruptions of 800–802, but modern geological surveys do not confirm it.

ℹ️ Free to visit at any hour, with no ticket, except the Sokonashi-ike pond, inside the garden of the Harinoki-bayashi Museum (9:00–17:00, 300 yen adults, 150 yen elementary school children).

🚉 Oshino Hakkai · 4 min walk

Sources: ja.wikipedia.org · vill.oshino.lg.jp

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