Oshino Hakkai
Oshino Hakkai Oshino Hakkai, or the Eight Seas of Oshino, are a set of eight ponds located in the Fuji Five Lakes area, on the site of a former sixth lake that dried out several centuries ago. The eight ponds are fed by snowmelt from the slopes of Mount Fuji that filters down the mountain through porous layers of volcanic rock over a period of several decades. This makes the mineral-rich pond waters remarkably clear and pristine. Oshino Hakkai are part of the Mt. Fuji UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, designated in 2013. The ponds were originally known as the Fujisan Nemoto Hakko Sacred Grounds, or the Moto-Hakko. Eight is a significant number in Buddhism, and making a circuit of the eight ponds was a major part of Mt. Fuji worship. Religious groups would purify themselves in the ponds prior to climbing Mt. Fuji. However, Fuji worship declined after 1868, when the new government led by Emperor Meiji took measures to reduce the immense wealth and power of Buddhist sects, ...