Arakurayama Sengen Park Audio Guide

Arakurayama Sengen Park: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Arakurayama Sengen Park

   Welcome to Arakurayama Sengen Park, written 新倉山浅間公園 in Japanese. It sits on the hillside of Mount Arakura in Fujiyoshida, in Yamanashi Prefecture, right in the Fuji Five Lakes region. The park covers about 4.3 hectares, and it is one of the best-known viewpoints for Mount Fuji in all of Japan. The image that made it famous is a three-part composition: a red five-storied pagoda, cherry blossoms in spring, and Mount Fuji rising behind them. The park also looks out over the town of Fujiyoshida, and the Ministry of the Environment ranked it tenth among its list of 100 views with Mount Fuji. Before you climb, one thing is worth knowing. That pagoda is not a temple pagoda. It is a memorial to the war dead, and that gives the postcard view a deeper meaning. Over the next few minutes we will look at that memorial, the shrine that makes this mountain sacred ground, the famous cherry trees, and how a quiet hillside park coped with becoming a world-famous photo spot.

2. 02

   The Pagoda Is a Memorial at Arakurayama Sengen Park

   Let us start with the building everyone photographs. Its official name is the Fujiyoshida City War Dead Memorial Tower, and in everyday speech it is called the Chureito. It looks like a five-storied pagoda, but it is a pagoda for the war dead, not a stupa and not a temple hall. The tower enshrines people from Fujiyoshida who died in the wars Japan fought from 1868 onward: the Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, the First World War and the Pacific War. At first it honored more than 960 souls, and the number now stands at 1055. The project was led by the city's support association. On the twelfth of August, 1958, a city memorial construction committee was set up, chaired by the mayor of Fujiyoshida. To reach it you climb 398 steps up the slope of Mount Arakura. A guide board in front of the tower tells how it came to be built. So as you pause at the top to catch your breath, remember that the red tower is a place of remembrance as well as a viewpoint, and it is worth treating it that way.

3. 03

   A Sacred Mountain Above Arakurayama Sengen Park

   The mountain itself has a spiritual side that visitors easily overlook. On Mount Arakura stands the shrine called Sangoku Daiichizan Arakura Fuji Sengen Shrine, and because of it the whole mountain is regarded as sacred precinct. The park takes the name Sengen from this tradition. Sengen shrines are the shrines devoted to Mount Fuji. The park was formally established in October 1959, classed as a block park, which is the Japanese term for a neighborhood-scale city park. So the place you are standing in is both a shrine mountain and a public park, managed by Fujiyoshida City. The setting explains the view. The park lies on the middle slope, roughly 100 meters above the town below. From the paths you see Mount Fuji spreading its wide skirts to left and right, with the streets of Fujiyoshida cradled at its foot. In winter, when the air is cold and the sky is clear, the mountain often wears a cap of snow, and that is when many people say the view is at its sharpest.

4. 04

   Cherry Blossoms and Crowds at Arakurayama Sengen Park

   Now the part that draws the crowds. The park has around 650 Somei Yoshino cherry trees, the classic pale-pink variety, and when they bloom together in spring they frame the pagoda and the mountain beyond. That scene has come to stand for Japan in the eyes of visitors from around the world. Popularity brought pressure. As visitor numbers grew, including many from abroad, people crowded onto the masonry and the slopes. From early September to December 2015, Fujiyoshida City carried out construction work, and during it set up fences and banned photography and viewing at certain points. In April 2016 the city held the first Arakurayama Sengen Park Cherry Blossom Festival. Vendors were given pointing cards in English, Thai and Chinese to help them talk with visitors. The festival ran in the springs that followed, but the concentration of tourists caused problems in the surrounding area, and the city decided not to hold it in 2026. It is a good reminder that this is a neighborhood hillside as well as a landmark. Leave the slopes as you find them and give the neighbors and other visitors some space.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   A few practical thoughts as you explore. The park is about 10 minutes by car from the Fujiyoshida Nishikatsura Smart Interchange on the Chuo Expressway, and about 10 minutes on foot from the Shimoyoshida bus stop. A municipal parking lot is available, and you may use it even if your visit is not centered on the park. Fujiyoshida City has also issued notices about bear sightings around the park, so check its current announcements before you go. When you are up there, try looking at things in a different order from the usual photograph. Notice the town spread out below you, then turn to the pagoda and read it as a memorial, and only then look up to the mountain. The park is also recognized as a Night View Heritage site, so the same hillside has another character after dark. Every season repaints this scene. Blossom, bare branches, snow on the summit, or clear winter air each give you a different Mount Fuji, and each is worth your time.