Mount Fuji

Hello again. Good to see you again. Are you following me? 😉

Yesterday, we visited the iconic Mount Fuji (a.k.a. “Fujisan”) a 12,000’ peak located 60 miles southwest of Tokyo. It is an active volcano and has been a sacred pilgrimage site for centuries. 

The local people say that the mountain is very shy, and often hides behind the clouds. A monk (no relation…) was the first person to climb the mountain in 663AD, and it last erupted in the 1700s. 

Our journeys took us to the town of Fujinomiya at the base of the mountain. Here, we visited the Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha Shrine. This shrine is considered “highly esteemed” in Japanese culture, and is traditionally the starting point for climbing the mountain. 

To enter the shrine, one must stop at the sacred shrine and go through several rituals before proceeding. The rituals include cleaning your hand and mouth in the sacred fountain, the “bowing deeply” before proceeding through the entrance. The entrance is guarded on either side by statues of monks, one with his mouth slightly opened, and one with just mouth partially closed. It is said that one is chanting “oooooo” and the other is completing the chant by saying “mmmmm”. This well known chant  (sometimes referee to as “aum”) originated in the Buddhism and Hinduism religions, and is the pronunciation of the first and last symbols in ancient Sanskrit. It is symbolic for the beginning and ending lifecycle of all things. 

Did you know that a“Shrine” is a religious building associated with the Japanese Shinto religion. (The religion  celebrates the relationship between man and nature.) Conversely, a “temple” is a religious building associated with the Buddhist religion.

The shrine was very beautiful, and had great views of Fugisan. 

Today, we visited our last port in Japan. Osaka is Japan second largest city, and was one the country’s capital. It is home to one of the largest Ferris Wheels in the world. Karen and I enjoyed a ride othe Ferris Wheel, and had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant that had an extensive menu of beers from around the world. We tried many, but our favorite was the Modena Lemon Beer brewed in Italy. The restaurant’s experts ranked this the 11th best beer in the world. We also tried the oldest beer in the world (which was okay). 

Speaking of beer, another  interesting fact that we learned is that, in Japan, many beer cans have Braille warnings on the top of the cans warning blind people that the can contains alcohol. Or maybe it just makes them easier to find in a crowded refrigerator…

We will have the next several days at before arriving in Vietnam. But that, my friends, is yet another story. 

Thank you for visiting.

– Mike

“Why are they going to disappear him? I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense. It isn’t even good grammar.” – Joseph Heller, Catch-22