The First Two of The 52 - Nishi-Fujinomiya / Fujinomiya

May 5th 2006 - the adventure began. For those not up to speed on the 52 Fujis, here’s a quick breakdown - there’s easily 51 stations in Japan with Fuji in their name. Although its not always with the same kanji as the mountain, I’ve still decided to use this as an excuse to trek around the countryside and visit them all. Plus, I’m going to do Mt. Fuji, making a nice round 52.

It was a little overcast and Mount Fuji was nowhere to be seen as I got on the crowded Minobu line train to head 20 mins north to Fujinomiya. It was almost like going to work, except I set off an hour earlier than usual, and I wasn’t in a suit. And I was going past my regular stop to Nishi-Fujinomiya, a station I’d never been to. It serves the west side of town (hence the name) & it turned out to be little more than a beautified hut. I handed the ticket office guy my little stub and 250yen and got 20 yen in change. This one little addition to my normal route cost me an extra 30 yen. I pondered for a moment on the vagaries of fare calculation, and then headed outside to get a proper look at the station area.

There wasn’t much there; some taxis gathered, a miniature roundabout, some policemen. A Korean barbecue restaurant opposite the station reminded me that I hadn’t eaten today. This wasn’t really the exciting start to my 52 Fujis adventure I’d hoped for. But I kept in mind the events I’d scheduled in for myself, and crossed my fingers.

Fujinomiya is, by all reports, a small country town. Its not what I would call a small country town - it has a population of 121,869, which is pretty big where I come from. Fujinomiya also has the dubious honour of being one of the poorest cities in Japan, a fact I mused over as I walked along a street with battered shops, none of which seemed to be selling anything I was terribly interested in even if they were open. Some were making more of an effort than others; the lone game shop I saw had an LED display instructing anyone who noticed to - “Come Here!”

Not far after that, I ran into the first big indication that a festival was taking place. The Thunderbirds were in town. They seemed to be helping the local bobbies with traffic flow, a job which involved waiting for the pedestrian crossing lights to turn to green, then standing in the road, waving people across, until the light turned red again. Its always nice to have a replacement for your own brain.

I didn’t make my way to the festival initially- the part I wanted to see didn’t start until 3pm, and it wasn’t even midday yet. Swarms of people streamed from the direction of the mighty Jusco, the new shrine in town. Fujinomiya’s very own mammoth shopping centre, complete with free parking. Something they seemed quite happy to allow any festival goer to use, even though they were a bit pushed for space on the roof. A section of car park had been cordoned off here, for the purpose of a show. A show I was keen on seeing.

I still had time to kill before the show started, so I went to see the new torii, which appeared overnight last week. I hadn’t even noticed it was being built, then all of a sudden, POW. It was there. I’ve been told it’s because the Sengen shrine in Fujinomiya is 1200 years old this year. Sengen is the branch of shinto that worships Mount Fuji as a god, and their shrines are abundant in Shizuoka. Interestingly, no-one’s really sure how to read the kanji - locals call it sengen, visitors from further afield are known to call it asama. The locals snigger, but the fact of the matter is that everyone’s right to a degree; its just that time has muddied the water.

All this culture and tradition was a bit much for both me and the younger citizens of Fujinomiya, and we were most entertained when we got to Jusco, and saw a Kamen Rider Hibiki live action show! A young girl all in white (even her knee high boots were white) introduced us to half-an-hour of grown men lepping about in monster/hero costumes, all to a soundtrack that they only managed to synchronize with about sixty per cent of the time. It was good fun though, and filled my memory cards almost to bursting. (You can see a quick snip, with sound, over at YouTube.

The show finished up at 2, so I strolled round town and marvelled at the koinobori for a while before following everyone else in the universe up to Sengen shrine, where the yabusame was due to start at 3. Yabusame is horseback archery - the goal is to ride your horse very, very fast along a narrow track and halfway along, take a shot at a big target which reverberates with a massive thwack when its hit. This was the highlight of my day, and the sun had finally come out to restart the heatwave which had marked the beginning of the week. The show didn’t start dead on 3 - first we were treated to lengthy introductions of the riders by an old man in what looked like an old Japanese take on a cowboy costume. He was at one end of what I assume was the VIP box, and at the other end was a man who didn’t look like he was enjoying the speech. Or the heat.

Don’t know if he managed to sleep through this -

When it was all over, I took a stroll around the festival stalls, which were exactly the same as fairground stalls everywhere else - cheap tat, bright colours, goldfish & greasy food. There were, however, more Pokemon, a Godzilla and more anime character masks than you could ever possibly want or need. Not to mention toddlers drinking oolong.

All in all a grand day out.

Gallery here.

Fujis remaining : 50

Don’t know what the 52 Fujis is about? Check this out.

Tuesday, May 9th, 2006 52 Fujis, Japan, Japanese Traditions, Noteworthy Trackback URL for this entry