Hidden Mount Fuji and the Oshino Hakkai Pools

Our Japanese hosts insisted that the day would be perfectly complemented with a visit to a “clear pond.” The translation failed us but we were game. Our small van twisted through villages and finally rolled to a stop in what seemed like a residential neighborhood. There were Japanese families and couples, small clutches of school girls and a few other ‘gaigin’ tourists. The afternoon was windy but sun warmed us in between passing clouds.

Despite the crowds, our hosts had a hard time finding the actual site. We walked in between large, traditional houses with the ubiquitous silver tiles on their upturned roof tops, past falling cherry blossoms and looked at water troughs but no pools.

Finally between maps and signposts we found a cobblestone street lined with shops and there were the pools. The eight ponds of Oshino Hakkai are fed by snow melt from the slopes of Mt. Fuji that filters down through porous layers of lava. The water is extraordinarily clear and revered by the locals. There are several places where visitors can dip ladles to sip from the source.

The crowd was relaxed and jovial.  The stores sold all manner of snacks and souvenirs that included I “heart” Mt. Fuji t-shirts and even hand towels with images of kimono clad young women whose clothes disappeared, leaving them naked when warmed or wet! It was quite a tourist attraction but the biggest draw was outside where open plazas were peppered with small groups, their faces turned towards the sun reflecting off the snowy slopes of Mt. Fuji. We were caught in the game of waiting for the top of the mountain to clear, hypnotized by the swirl of clouds that curled around the summit. The excitement grew until we admitted defeat. The mountain had tricked us into idolatry and then recanted the promise, much like the girls on the hand towels.

Pool picture by the author, Elaine J. Masters

Mt. Fuji photo courtesy of Ivan Walsh, Flickr Commons