Climbing is culture!

-Roots of Mt. Fuji climbing as a world cultural heritage-

In June 2013, Mt. Fuji was registered as a World Cultural Heritage, but the two factors mentioned as “Object of Faith” and “Source of Art”.

But “Soranoshita” want to say that the third factor is forgotten.

That means “Mt.Fuji had a culture of mountain climbing”.

When UNESCO recognized Mt. Fuji as a world heritage, there were 25 constituent assets in all. It is lakes, shrines and ruins.

However, 4 of those 25 items are mountain trails.

1 Yoshida trail

2 Subashiri trail

3 Suyama trail (Confluence to Gotenba trail)

4 Omiya/Murayama trail (present Fujinomiya trail)

These four mountain trails have become big presence in various scenes historically.

Well, Mt. Fuji climbing was the object of faith that Yamabushi training and Fuji lecturer’s climbing from long ago.

At the same time, however, it is also true that people traveled on mountain climbing toward Mt. Fuji.

It is remarkable felt that especially in the latter half of the Edo era, the way the population enjoyed Mt. Fuji on a journey of climbing a mountain, including Fuji lecture (lecturer organized by people worshiping Mt. Fuji), which was supposed to have 808 lectures in the town of Edo.

In the latter half of the Edo period, it was somewhat away from faith, so the Shogunate frequently issued the “Fuji lecture prohibition”.

It is thought that climbing has become subliminal to tradition and culture along with the time as climbing approaches “enjoyment of travel for people” from “religious things”.

Finally, the beginning of a pure Mt. Fuji climbing away from a religious one is probably not a Japanese one, I think that Alcock, the British minister, was the first time to climb as a foreigner. The era is in the 1860s when the Shogunate desperately wanted to give a Fuji lecture ban.