CircuitPilgrimageVisiting around sacred water places / Eastern area of the Fuji Five LakesOkamaike pondWakuike pondDeguchiike pond Sokonashiike pondShobuike pond22Blue and clear eight spring water ponds are the appearance of the “Eight Great Dragon Kings”, messengers of Fujisan. Fujisan viewed from Oshino Village with “Oshino Hakkai” springs has been admired as “Oshino Fuji” since old times. How would the people of the old times have viewed clear fountains gushing out in the village from which to view extremely beautiful Fujisan? A rough mechanism is that first the rain and snow fallen on Fujisan seep through the mountain, pushing through the layers of lava, and finally burst out as spring water at the distal end of lava flow. The water is slowly filtered through the layers of lave in 10-20 years, thus it becomes very clear spring water rich in mineral, which is truly the fountain of life. In the old times when such natural activities of Fujisan were just purely regarded as a great mystery, the eight ponds were not only beautiful blessings but also sacred places guarded by the “Eight Great Dragon Kings”. The name “Hakkai” is derived from the eight ponds that became sacred places around the end of the Edo period (1603-1868) as chosen from the many spring water ponds gushing out in Shibokusa (present-day Oshino Village), where “Motohakko-meguri” was conducted as water ablution of purification prior to worship ascent of Fujisan. The arrangement of the eight spring water ponds is said to be in the shape of Big Dipper and Polaris. Although “Fujisan Nemotohakko sacred places” greatly flourished as Motohakko faith, its faith became declined as well as Fuji-ko faith after the policy of abolishing Buddhism in the Meiji period (1868-1912). Former Eight Great Dragon Kings, as Oshino Hakkai springs of present day, can be visited while strolling through seven spring water ponds centered on “Wakuike pond”. Oshino Hakkai springs became component assets of Fujisan World Cultural Heritage site registered in 2013, therefore stone monuments standing by each pond came to be noted again. Each stone monument is engraved with number of then sacred place, a name of enshrined dragon deity, and a Waka (Japanese poem of thirty-one syllables), so we can go around Motohakko sacred places dated back to the Fuji-ko era. If you have time to spare and go around the eight ponds in order starting with Deguchiike pond of the first sacred place located a little far away from the center, you could feel something good being born inside of you.4Oshino Hakkai springs
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