Kanadorii Gate

Kanadorii Gate stands a few minutes from Fujisan Station with Mt. Fuji framed between its pillars. It marks the threshold between ordinary life and the sacred mountain beyond, and was historically the first of eight torii gates that Fujiko pilgrims from Edo passed through on the way to the summit. The name means metal torii, referring to the copper sheets that once wrapped the original wooden pillars. That gate blew down twice and was eventually lost to wartime requisitions in 1942. The current gate, completed in 1957, is copper-plated concrete and stands about 30 meters closer to the mountain than historians believe the original stood. Five pilgrims' inns from the old Fujiko faith still receive visitors along the street beyond.