are small mounds, commonly found in and around Tokyo, which represent

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu, with a summit elevation of . It is the highest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano on any Asian island (after Mount Kerinci on the Indonesian island of Sumatra), a ...

. During the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

(1603–1868), a cult arose around the mountain, one of whose major devotional rites was to climb to the peak. Pilgrims who were unable through age, infirmity or gender to climb Mount Fuji would ascend one of these surrogates instead. They were usually around ten feet high, and replicate the 10 stations on Fuji itself, from the foot of the mountain to the summit. Some were also situated so as to provide pleasant views of their surrounding area, such as the ''Moto-Fuji'' at

Meguro is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Meguro City. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947. Meguro is predominantly residential in character ...

. Although they are not included among the objects that make up the Cultural World Heritage Site, there are many Fujizuka that have been designated as

Cultural Properties Cultural property, also known as cultural patrimony, comprises the physical items that are part of the cultural heritage of a group or society, as opposed to less tangible cultural expressions. They include such items as cultural landscapes, histo ...

by the national government of Japan or by local governments. Famous Fujizuka within the precincts of Tokyo include the Shitaya-sakamoto Fuji (within the grounds of the Onoterusaki shrine), the Nagasaki Fuji (beside the main shrine building of the Fuji Sengen shrine) and the Ekoda Fuji (within the grounds of the Ekoda Sengen shrine). One such Fujizuka is found at

Shinagawa is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The Ward refers to itself as Shinagawa City in English. The Ward is home to ten embassies. , the Ward had an estimated population of 380,293 and a population density of 16,510 persons per ...

shrine near Shimbamba Station in Tokyo. According to the shrine's

kannushi , also called , is the common term for a member of the clergy at a responsible for maintaining the shrine and leading worship of the there.* ''Kannushi'' (in Japanese), Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version The chara ...

, Mr. Suzuki, the Fujizuka, built between 1869 and 1872, is a relatively late addition, and is said to bestow the same benefit on those who climb it as climbing Mt. Fuji. In the United Kingdom there is a Fujizuka in the grounds of

Fanhams Hall Fanhams Hall is an 18th-century Queen Anne House-style country house in Wareside, Hertfordshire in the south east of England. It is a Grade II* listed building which is now operating as a hotel. Built in the early 18th century, it was subseque ...

, Hertfordshire.

References

{{reflist Mount Fuji Fuji worship