Mount Asama is a symbolic mountain that has long been beloved by the townspeople and vacation home owners of Karuizawa, and even travelers along the Nakasendo road.
The volcano alert level was recently lowered from 2 to 1. It seems that entry to the mountain is now possible from 2km to 500m from the crater.
Yokochi, who works in housing sales in Suwa, wrote about " The outer rim of Mt. Asama, created by the energy of nature " on his blog.
Mount Asama has many different expressions depending on the angle from which you view it.
If you drive from Nagano to Karuizawa, you can see Mount Asama peeking out from the outer rim of the volcano around Komoro city.
(The mountain on the left and the rugged mountain in the foreground are the outer rim.)
If you continue east along the Sun Line, the whole view will come into view, along with the base of Mt. Asama.
This is what it looks like in Karuizawa town.
Now, onto the main topic : [I started researching why Mount Asama is called "Asamayama" and couldn't stop]
I was reading a book and came across Sengen Taisha Shrine, which is said to have 1,300 related shrines across the country. It reminded me of visiting the shrine when I climbed Mt. Fuji at the age of 10. By the way, I was curious as to why the character "Asama" is used and why Mount Asama is called Asamayama in the first place. I started researching it, which was spurred on by a book I read recently explaining the Kojiki, and it became fascinating. (By the way, most of the stories in the Kojiki are about Western Japan, and Mount Fuji does not appear.)
So what is the origin of the name Asama?
[1. The theory that the word originates from southern and Ainu words] According to physicist Torahiko Terada, there is a theory that "Asama" originates from southern words. Aso (burn), Asu (smoke), Ask (smoke), Asama (explode). Nagano Prefecture local historian Tomohiko Okamura says that in Ainu, Aso (eruption) and Omai (place), "Aso-Omai" is said to be the place where the crater is located. There are various theories, but the names of volcanoes with calderas formed by eruptions, such as Mt. Asama and Mt. Aso, are names that seem to be a mixture of southern and Ainu words.
[2. Theory that the name originates from Mt. Asama, where Mt. Fuji was worshipped] There are many mountains where Mt. Fuji can be worshipped, scattered around the Kanto region, from Mie Prefecture in the west to Tochigi in the east, with Mt. Fuji at the center. One of them is said to be the origin of the name, Mt. Asama, located in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, where Ise Shrine is located. On the other hand, there is Mt. Asama in Hakone, which has Lake Ashi as a caldera lake, and Mt. Asama to the south of the erupted Mt. Ontake, and Mt. Asama, which spans Karuizawa, Miyota, Komoro, and Gunma, came to be called Mt. Asama because of the worship of the volcano.
As shown in the photo below, there are many shrines called Asama in eastern Japan, but when you search in western Japan, you will hardly find any. There are several Asama shrines in Kyushu, located in places where you can see Mount Aso.
In addition, Tohoku
Incidentally, the origin of Asama Taisha is the mountain worship of Mt. Fuji, which started as a Shugendo sect in the Heian period, and spread throughout the country in the Edo period as religious organizations (Fuji-ko and Asama-ko) were established. Asama Taisha was so named because it enshrines Asama no Okami. The population of Edo in the mid-Edo period is said to have been 1.1 million, and pilgrimages walking from Edo to Mt. Fuji were quite popular. The goddess of water, Konohasakuya-hime (the wife of Amaterasu Omikami's grandson), is enshrined at Asama Taisha at the foot of Mt. Fuji. Every time the volcanoes of Mt. Fuji and Mt. Asama erupt, volcanic ash carried by the westerly winds covered the land (Kanto Loam Layer), causing serious damage to crop growth, so it is interesting that many Asama shrines that enshrine Konohasakuya-hime to calm the volcanoes are dotted around the Kanto Plain.
There are various theories, but it seems that the word "Asama" originated from the belief in calming volcanoes and the worship of Mount Fuji.
Once the volcanic activity has subsided, I would like to see Mount Fuji from the summit of Mount Asama.
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