Fuji Yoshiida

Last night Mom and I decided to end her trip with a tour to Fuji Yoshiida which is the fire festival at the foot of Mt. Fuji that celebrates the close of the official climbing season. Yesterday morning, nice and late, we headed to bus to board the beautiful MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) bus from base. They are just stunningly decorated, as we've come to expect from the Navy!

The drive was gorgeous, once you get outside of the cities Japan is really a beautifully lush country. I love seeing all hills and the little villages nestled in between them.
We got to Fuji about 2:30 and walked to the Sengen Shrine - this is the same shrine Mack and I visited where we learned about the deer being the messengers to the gods. Apparently this guy also thinks dogs are - I swear to you, in this baby carriage there are six, yes SIX, little dogs roiling around in the heat. Insane, incredible and so Japanese.
The shrine was just as beautiful as I remember, in particular I love the stone lanterns that line the pathway.
This guy is wearing the costume that all the people carrying the mikoshi (miniature temple) were wearing although they come in a variety of colors depending on what group you came with. I thought it was adorable that his kids were also wearing the uniforms!
First come out the miniature mikoshis carried by the kids - they had a boys Mt Fuji (pictured here), a boys temple and also a girls version of each.
These are the "bonfires" which will be stood up at nightfall and lit.
We were able to get a great spot on the street for the start of the parade. First come the Buddhist priests - or monks? I'm not sure what the correct name is.
This is the Sengen Shrine mikoshi - stunning isn't it?
And then special for the festival is the steel Mt. Fuji - this thing literally weighs one ton - I would not want to be one of the guys carrying this sucker!! At the intersection they set this down on girders and then "playing" knock it off and throw it around letting it land on the ground. As the tour guide put it, its basically like tossing a VW in the air and crossing your fingers.
I have a ton more pictures from the rest of the night so tune in tomorrow!