Yamanashi Prefecture Specialty Products, Souvenirs, Shrines and Temples, and Travel | 47 Prefecture Guide

Yamanashi is a landlocked prefecture surrounded by mountains on all sides. That enclosed quality has shaped both its fruit growing and its faith traditions.

Specialties

Grapes and peaches both have the largest harvest volumes in Japan. The Kofu Basin has long hours of sunshine, little rainfall, and a large temperature difference between day and night. For fruit trees, the conditions could hardly be better.

Where there are grapes, wine can be made. Japanese winemaking began in earnest in this area in the early Meiji era. The grape variety “Koshu” is an example of this region’s former name becoming the name of a grape variety known around the world.

Then Quartz. The discovery of high-quality raw stones around Mitake Shosenkyo Gorge was the starting point of the jewelry industry.

Souvenirs

Shingen mochi is a sweet made by pouring kuromitsu syrup over mochi dusted with kinako soybean flour. Originally, it had the character of a food that kept well and was easy to carry.

Wine, grape sweets, hoto noodles, and Koshu inden accessories. Wallets patterned with lacquer on deerskin develop more luster the more they are used.

Shrines and Temples

Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine in Fujiyoshida City is a shrine at the starting point of the Yoshida Trail up Mount Fuji. Passing through the climbing gate in the shrine grounds, the path from there to the summit is regarded as the approach to the shrine. It is included in the World Cultural Heritage site's component assets for “Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration.”

Mount Fuji became a World Heritage site not as “nature,” but as “culture.” What was recognized was not the mountain itself, but the fact that people had worshipped it. That is why shrines and oshi priests' houses are included among the component assets.

Takeda Shrine in Kofu City enshrines Takeda Shingen and stands on the site of the Takeda clan residence, so it is known for good fortune in victory. Minobusan Kuonji Temple in Minobu Town, the head temple of the Nichiren school, is known for its 287-step Bodai-tei staircase, and visitors can take a ropeway up to the Okunoin.

The five-storied pagoda at Arakurayama Sengen Park, part of Arakura Fuji Sengen Shrine, is a view that captures Mount Fuji, the five-storied pagoda, and cherry blossoms in a single frame and is widely known overseas as well.

Sightseeing

The Fuji Five Lakes, Yamanaka, Kawaguchi, Sai, Shoji, and Motosu, Oshino Hakkai, and Shosenkyo Gorge.

The water of Oshino Hakkai is said to be snow that fell on Mount Fuji and spent several decades passing through layers of lava and the entire area is a Natural Monument of Japan.

Traditional Crafts

Nationally designated items are Koshu Inden, Koshu crystal carving, and Koshu hand-carved seals: 3 items in all.

All three are works that combine hard things and soft things. Leather and lacquer, stone and blades. And all three are small. This may not be unrelated to the difficulty of transporting goods in a mountain-ringed region.

For details, see [VILLAGE Report vol.29] Placing lacquer on deerskin

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References: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries “Crop Statistics Survey,” Yamanashi Prefecture, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Fujiyoshida City, Minobu Town, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries — Value Village Editorial Team