Fujinomiya Sights: Sengen Taisha and Falls

November 7, 2026

Fujinomiya Sightseeing

Fujinomiya grew up around the shrine to the goddess of Mount Fuji, and its sights still follow the mountain’s water: a sacred spring in the town centre, waterfalls of groundwater on the slopes, and a lake that reflects the peak. Two of them are components of the Fujisan World Heritage site, inscribed in 2013 as a sacred place and source of artistic inspiration. Prices are in Japanese yen.

Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha

This is the head shrine of about 1,300 Sengen (Asama) shrines across Japan, dedicated to Konohanasakuya-hime, the deity of Mount Fuji. Tradition says it was founded to calm the volcano’s eruptions more than 1,000 years ago. The present main hall was built in 1604 with a donation from Tokugawa Ieyasu in the two-storey sengen-zukuri style and is a national Important Cultural Property. The shrine’s inner sanctuary, the Okumiya, stands on the summit of Mount Fuji itself.

Entry is free. Gate hours change with the season, from roughly 05:00 to 20:00 in summer to 06:00 to 19:00 in winter, so check if you plan an early or late visit. It is 10 to 15 minutes on foot from JR Fujinomiya Station. In spring, about 500 cherry trees bloom in the grounds from late March to early April. As at any shrine, rinse your hands at the purification basin, bow twice, clap twice and bow once at the hall.

Wakutama Pond

Inside the shrine grounds, spring water fed by rain and snow on Mount Fuji rises into Wakutama Pond at about 13°C all year and flows out as the Kanda River. The pond is a Special Natural Monument, and for centuries members of the Fuji-ko pilgrim confraternities purified themselves in it before climbing. Visitors today look but do not enter the water.

Mt. Fuji World Heritage Centre, Shizuoka

Next to the shrine, the prefecture’s World Heritage centre opened in December 2017. Its exhibition hall, designed by Shigeru Ban, is an inverted cone clad in a lattice of local cypress, and when it is reflected in the pool in front the two halves form the shape of Mount Fuji. A spiral slope inside rises from the first floor to the fifth, and the top-floor hall and terrace frame the real mountain. Adults pay 500 yen; children aged 15 and under, those aged 70 and over, and students go free. It opens 09:00 to 17:00 (to 18:00 in July and August) and closes on the third Tuesday of each month. See the centre’s official site .

Shiraito Falls and Otodome Falls

About 30 minutes by bus from the station, Shiraito Falls spreads across a curved cliff about 20 m high and 150 m wide, with hundreds of streams of spring water pouring from the rock. It was made a National Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument in 1936 and is part of the Fujisan World Heritage site. Otodome Falls is five minutes from the car park on the way. Entry is free; parking is 500 yen.

Lake Tanuki

On the Asagiri Plateau at about 650 m, Lake Tanuki is the classic spot for a reflected Mount Fuji. Around 20 April and 20 August the sun rises over the summit for about a week, the Diamond Fuji that photographers wait for.

The Asagiri Plateau

The grasslands north of the city give broad views of the western face of Mount Fuji. Makaino Farm (adults 1,200 yen from March to November) and Asagiri Food Park are the easiest places to stop and look.

Omiya Yokocho

Opposite the shrine, this small food court is the place to try Fujinomiya yakisoba, the noodle dish that won the first two B-1 Grand Prix contests in 2006 and 2007.

Find guided Mount Fuji area trips on Viator .