Hitoana (Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki)

This large cave near the base of Mt. Fuji was already considered sacred in the thirteenth century, described in old records as the home of the mountain deity and featured in illustrated stories about samurai journeys to the underworld. In the early seventeenth century, the ascetic Hasegawa Kakugyo reportedly spent 1,000 days meditating here on a wooden block, and the cave became a pilgrimage site for the Fuji-ko confraternity networks that spread across Japan. Over 200 stone monuments left by those pilgrims still stand at the entrance. The cave floor is permanently covered in water. Visits require advance booking with the Fujinomiya City Board of Education.