Arakurayama Sengen Park

Arakurayama Sengen Park spreads over the slope of Mt. Arakura in Fujiyoshida. Arakura Fuji Sengen Shrine stands at the foot of the hill, and the view of Mt. Fuji beyond the Chūreitō, a five-storey pagoda on the hillside, is known as the representative scene of Fujiyoshida.

According to the shrine’s history, in 1533 (Tenbun 2) Takeda Nobutora, lord of Kai Province and father of Shingen, donated a plaque. The Fujiyoshida Shishi, the history of Fujiyoshida City, says, however, that more research is needed on which Sengen shrine the plaque was originally offered to.

Shōfukuji in Arakura is a temple of the Jōdo Shin school. It is said to have been one temple with Taishōji, founded in the Bunmei era, until the two separated at the end of the Sengoku period. When it was a Shingon temple, it is said to have served as bettō of the Sengen shrine of Arakura and to have kept a mountain hut at the eighth station of Mt. Fuji. In Fuji’s special years (goennen), the temple handed out Fuji origin tales, Fuji seals, pictures of the descent of the Amida triad and pictures of the eight petals and nine deities, and it is said to have had printing blocks made in the Enpō era. The 1680 (Enpō 8) picture of the eight petals and nine deities is said to be the oldest picture of the halls and shrines on the Yoshida trail, and its printing block has been kept at Shōfukuji. In 1873 (Meiji 6) Arakura School opened, using Shōfukuji as its temporary schoolhouse. The temples and shrines of Arakura were also tied to pilgrimages on the Yoshida trail.

The Chūreitō is a memorial to the war dead. In spring cherry blossoms cover the hillside, and many people from Japan and abroad come to this spot, where the pagoda and Mt. Fuji can be seen together. The town of Fujiyoshida below was the gateway town of the Yoshida trail, where the lodgings of the oshi once stood in rows.