Fuji Omuro Sengen-Jinja Shrine

This is the oldest shrine on Mt. Fuji's slopes, founded in 699 near the second station of the Yoshida Trail at 1,700 meters. Its main hall, donated by a Tokugawa branch family in 1612, preserves Azuchi-Momoyama architectural style with flowing karahafu gables and cypress-bark roof shingles. Unusually for a Sengen shrine, worshippers face away from the mountain summit, based on the belief that the mountain descends each day to reside within the shrine itself. Every April 29, the grounds host yabusame, a mounted archery exhibition tracing back to Kamakura-era samurai culture promoted by Minamoto no Yoritomo.