Shizuoka Prefecture Specialties, Souvenirs, Shrines, Temples, and Travel | 47 Prefecture Guide

Shizuoka is a prefecture that has both Japan’s deepest bay (Suruga Bay) and its highest mountain (Mount Fuji). This difference in elevation shapes both its food and its faith.

Specialties

It ranks among Japan’s top tea-producing regions. The slopes of Makinohara and Kawane drain well and are often covered in morning mist. They are well suited to tea.

In this series, we have looked at several tea-producing regions. Shizuoka has volume, Kyoto has gyokuro, Yame in Fukuoka has competitions, and Sayama in Saitama has the aroma of firing. Even with the same tea, each production area competes on a different strength.

Eel means Lake Hamana. Its stable water temperature as a brackish lake made it suitable for aquaculture. Sakura shrimp come from Suruga Bay, and this is the only place in Japan where they can be caught. The whitebait also comes from this sea. Wasabi is grown in wasabi fields fed by spring water drawn from the mountains.

Souvenirs

Tea, unagi pie, Abekawa mochi, soy sauce, and dried sakura shrimp.

Then Suruga bamboo latticeware small items. Shizuoka also ranks first in Japan for the shipment value of plastic models, and this too is said to trace back to wood-pattern and Buddhist altar woodworking techniques.

Shrines and Temples

Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine (Fujinomiya City) is the head shrine of the roughly 1,300 Sengen shrines said to exist throughout Japan in total.

What is unusual about this shrine is that the area from Mount Fuji’s eighth station upward is considered shrine precinct land. There is an inner shrine at the summit. In other words, the highest point in the country is within the precincts of a single shrine. Wakutama Pond is fed by Mount Fuji’s underground water and was once a place where climbers purified themselves.

Kunozan Toshogu Shrine (Shizuoka City) is the place where Tokugawa Ieyasu was first buried. It was built before Nikko. The main shrine building and other structures are National Treasures.

Mishima Taisha Shrine is said to be where Minamoto no Yoritomo prayed when raising his army, and the fragrant olive tree in the shrine grounds is a nationally designated Natural Monument.

Sightseeing

Miho no Matsubara (a component asset of the Mount Fuji World Cultural Heritage site), the Izu Peninsula, Kawazu cherry blossoms (February), and the Oigawa Railway.

Shizuoka is just under one hour from Tokyo by Shinkansen. Within a day-trip distance, the sea, mountains, and tea fields line up side by side.

Traditional Crafts

Nationally designated items are Suruga bamboo latticeware, Suruga miniature doll-festival implements, Suruga hina dolls making three items.

When people think of bamboo craft, they usually imagine weaving flat strips, but in Suruga, bamboo is shaved into “round strips” and assembled by inserting them one by one. It is a technique with very few examples nationwide.

For details, see 【VILLAGE Report vol.27】Shaving bamboo like thread

Articles About This Prefecture

See all articles about Shizuoka Prefecture　 ← List of 47 Prefectures

References: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Shizuoka Prefecture, Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka City, Mishima City, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries — Value Village Editorial Team