Mountain Huts and some History of the Yoshida Trail

Aug 22, 2023
2 min read

I probably should have posted this before my last post. It occurred to me that readers may not know much about Mt Fuji or the Yoshida Trail. Strangely I couldn't find much about the history of the Trail, or why the hut stops are called "stations". Anyway, the below is what I could find.

(By the way - this is from my 2015 trip when you could actually see the mountain....)

About Mt Fuji

Mount Fuji (富士山, Fujisan, Japanese: [ɸɯꜜ(d)ʑisaɴ](listen)), located on the island of Honshū, is an active stratovolcano in Japan, with a summit elevation of 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft 3 in). It is the tallest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest peak of an island on Earth.[1] Mount Fuji last erupted from 1707 to 1708.[4][5] The mountain is located about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Tokyo and is visible from there on clear days. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is covered in snow for about five months of the year.

Mount Fuji is one of Japan's "Three Holy Mountains"(三霊山, Sanreizan) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.[7] It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013 (that's 10 years minus 2 days I went up).

History of the trail

The first ascent: 663 by En no Odzunu. It was established as a Pilgrimage route. During the Edo period, followers of the Fujiko faith would start their ascents of Mt. Fuji from a small gate at the back of the Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine at its base.

Here is a list of the huts- I underlined the ones I used:

Mountain Huts on the 5th Station

Satogoya

2,230 meters | 7,314 feet

090-3133-2230; 0555-22-1945

http://www.fuji-satogoya.com/

100 person capacity

Okuniwaso

2,300 meters | 7,544 feet

0555-82-2910

http://www.digisco.com/okuniwa/index.htm

90 person capacity