Mount Fuji - The Domain of the Gods
Mount Fuji (Fujisan) is not just Japan's highest peak; it is a sacred focal point of spiritual practice, folk legends, and ancient Shinto and Buddhist mythology. For centuries, it has been viewed as a gateway between the human and spiritual worlds.
The most prominent deity associated with Mount Fuji is Konohana Sakuyahime (also known as Sengen). According to the Kojiki, she married Ninigi (grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu). When she became pregnant after just one night, Ninigi doubted her fidelity. To prove her purity, she entered a windowless birthing hut and set it on fire, successfully giving birth to three sons completely unharmed amid the flames. Just as the Phoenix symbolizes the burning away of the mortal coil to reveal the divine soul within, they symbolically connected this divine operation to Konohana Sakuyahime and Mount Fuji.
Japan’s oldest surviving narrative fiction Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) begins with an old, childless bamboo cutter named Taketori no Okina.
One day in the forest, the old man notices a mysterious stalk of bamboo glowing from within. He cuts it open to find a tiny, thumb-sized baby girl. This is very similar to the European fairy tale of Thumbelina (remember Fairy Tales are just another form of mythology)
He and his wife raise her as their own daughter, naming her Kaguya-hime (The Shining Princess of the Supple Bamboo). From that day on, every time the old man cuts open a bamboo stalk, he finds a nugget of gold inside, quickly making his family wealthy.
Kaguya-hime grows from a tiny infant into a woman of breathtaking, otherworldly beauty in just three months. As word of her radiant beauty spreads, men from all over Japan travel to see her. Five high-ranking noble princes eventually come forward to beg for her hand in marriage. Kaguya-hime has no desire to marry, so she devises five legendary, impossible tasks. The five princes all fail her tests.
However Kaguya-hime comes to the attention of the Emperor. Captivated by her, he asks her to join his imperial court. She gently but firmly refuses, stating that she is not of this world and cannot live under his rule.
Eventually, Kaguya-hime falls into a deep sorrow, spending nights staring tearfully at the full moon. She finally confesses the truth to her foster parents: she is a celestial being from the Capital of the Moon (Tsuki no Miyako), sent to Earth temporarily as punishment for an unspoken sin. Her time is up, and her people are returning to claim her. The Moon is symbolically connected to the Aether, so when she speaks of her people from the Moon she is speaking of the Divine Souls and the Aethereal Age where they are returned to their rightful positions at the beginning of a new Great Year.
Devastated that she wants to leave, the old bamboo cutter pleads with the Emperor for help. On the night of the full moon, the Emperor sends 2,000 armed imperial soldiers to guard the house and trap Kaguya-hime inside.
However a celestial entourage descends from the sky on a cloud, emitting a blinding, divine light that completely paralyzes the mortal guards. Before she leaves, Kaguya-hime leaves a parting letter and an elixir of immortality for the Emperor. Her heavenly handlers then drape the Robe of Feathers (hagoromo) over her shoulders. The magical robe instantly erases all her earthly attachments, memories, and sorrows, rendering her entirely indifferent to the humans she loved. She steps into the flying chariot and returns to the Moon. The Ancient Japanese believed that if the people became evil and did not stop their corruption she would unleash her fiery birthing-hut rage to cleanse the land of impurity.
Some sects such as the Fuji-kō believe when Mount Fuji erupts it is a sign of 世直し (Yonaoshi, meaning "world rectification" or renewal).
They prophesied that when the world became completely corrupt, Mount Fuji would tear open, and Miroku Bosatsu (the Maitreya/Future Buddha) would descend to Earth from the mountain to save humanity and establish a utopian paradise.
The Shugendo monks believe that Mount Fuji is the domain of the gods and that when it erupts it will destroy the barrier between the Physical and Aethereal planes.
Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861) Nitta Tadatsune Encounters the Goddess of Mt. Fuji and Her Dragon in Her Cave on Mt. Fuji, circa 1844
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