Fujisan Shimomiya Omuro Sengen Shrine Audio Guide

Fujisan Shimomiya Omuro Sengen Shrine: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Fujisan Shimomiya Omuro Sengen Shrine

   Welcome to a shrine that locals simply call Shimo-Sengen. It stands in Shimoyoshida, in Fujiyoshida City, on the Fuji Five Lakes side of Mount Fuji. It is a neighborhood shrine, and it is also a place of Mount Fuji worship, dedicated to the goddess Konohanasakuya-hime-no-Mikoto. A quick word on what to expect. The shrine's buildings and layout are not documented here, so this guide does not describe them. Instead we will follow the stories that make the shrine memorable: a name that has confused people for centuries, a mounted archery festival with a most unusual way of telling fortunes, and a role as the guardian of the local community. One point of orientation. This is not the better-known Fuji Omuro Sengen Shrine near Lake Kawaguchi. The two are related by name and by history, and we will untangle that in a moment.

2. 02

   A Name With Layers

   The full name sounds like a mouthful, but each part of it points to a story. The shrine was formerly known as Fuji San Shimomiya Sengen Shrine. The word Shimomiya means lower shrine. It was used in relation to the Komuro Sengen Shrine at the second station on Mount Fuji, which sits higher up and is the former main shrine of today's Fuji Omuro Asama Shrine. People around Lake Kawaguchi also used the word to name the Fuji Yoshida area, which set it apart from Kawaguchi Sengen Shrine. Then the names begin to tangle. Historical records show that in older times Shimoyashima referred to the Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine, not to this shrine. A Yoshida Route map from 1680 labels the grounds of today's Kitaguchi Hongu as Shimoyashima. A provincial gazetteer of 1814 calls the second station shrine Kami Sengen, the Kitaguchi shrine Shimoyashima, and the shrine at Shimoyoshida Shimomiya Sengen. In the Meiji period the second station shrine was renamed Komuro Sengen Shrine, and that deepened the confusion between Shimoyashima and Shimomiya. So when you read the plaque or hear the nickname Shimo-Sengen, remember that you are looking at the lower shrine in a family of Mount Fuji shrines.

3. 03

   Yabusame and the Hoofprint Oracle

   The shrine's best-known event is its Yabusame festival, held on September 19, the day of the Reisai, the shrine's annual festival. Yabusame is the old art of shooting arrows from a galloping horse. The festival is designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Yamanashi Prefecture. The festival is also famous for something stranger and gentler: horse hoof divination, known in Japanese as batei uranai. Fortunes are read from the hoofprints of a horse, so the animal does more here than carry a rider. It helps the community look ahead. Tradition ties the shrine's founding to the year 807, and the horse remains a living part of its identity. If your visit falls near the middle of September, the festival is worth planning around.

4. 04

   Guardian of the Neighborhood

   This shrine is a local one, a place where Mount Fuji worship and the worship of the local tutelary deity come together. It is dedicated to Konohanasakuya-hime-no-Mikoto, the deity associated with Mount Fuji worship, and it has long been cherished as the ujigami, the guardian deity that watches over the people living in the area. That gives the visit a different feeling from a famous pilgrimage site. Here the mountain's sacred presence comes down into the streets of Shimoyoshida and into everyday life. Look out for two more living traditions mentioned in connection with the shrine: a sacred horse, and a katsura tree designated by the city. Both are reasons to slow down and look around. In modern times the shrine has been classed as a Beppyo Shrine under the Association of Shinto Shrines. Before that, under the old system of ranked shrines, it held the rank of Gosha, a village shrine.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Before you leave, think about how the shrine's names fit together: Shimomiya, Shimo-Sengen, and the higher shrine that gave rise to the word lower. Ask yourself what it means to be the lower shrine of a mountain. And if you can, imagine the sound of hooves on a September day. There is more of Fuji's shrine world waiting around Fujiyoshida and the lakes.