About the Japan Heritage Mitake Shosenkyo Gorge
Situated within Yamanashi Prefecture, Shosenkyo Gorge is one of Japan’s finest scenic spots and draws large numbers of visitors from inside and outside of Japan. This beautiful gorge holds attractions colorfully tinted by the richness of its varied natural environment and long history, leaving a deep impression on all who visit.
The mountainous area around Shosenkyo Gorge is a place of water source worship, producing abundant crystals that were once believed to be blocks of water. If you visit the upper reaches of the River Arakawa that flows through the area, you will be amazed by waterfalls of various sizes, gigantic stones and oddly shaped rocks formed by erosion over eons of time.
This beautiful gorge, which can be described as a work of art created by water, was miraculously revealed when a new path was excavated during the end of the Edo period. Since then, it has been refined into one of the most scenic sports in Japan with the enthusiasm of the local people.
The crystals produced in the Shosenkyo Gorge area and their processing techniques joined to become the skills of artisanry that formed the foundation of Japan's top jewelry industry. Furthermore, they led to synthetic quartz crystal manufacturing techniques, which are used in electronic devices such as smartphones and have supported our lives from past to present.
【One of Japan’s Leading Crystal Production Places】
Crystal is a mineral that is frequently found together with granite, but since the attractive long and hexagonal crystals can only be formed under certain circumstances (inside boiling water of temperatures up to 573 degrees Celsius) there are very few places in Japan where crystal is produced. The geology of the area around Mt. Kinpu, in places like the Kurobera district, includes several types of deposits producing excellent crystals.
【Mitake Shindo Path and Designation as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty】
The steep valley area once had a mountain path so rugged that it was used for training mountain asceticism. Along with his family and many helpers, Osada Enemon, who lived in a settlement in the depths of Shosenkyo Gorge, spent nine years cutting away a new path (the new Mitake Shindo) along the Arakawa River and finally linked the castle city of Kofu with the villages in the depths of the gorge. Shosenkyo Gorge was designated as a National Scenic Beauty in the year 1923, and then as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty in 1953. Along with Yumura Onsen hot spring, which bubbles up in the foothills of the mountains, the gorge was developed into one of Yamanashi’s leading tourist destinations and scenery preservation activities are conducted mainly by local people, carefully maintaining the gorge as a treasure of the community.
【Kanazakura-jinja Shrine and the Mitake Kodo Path that Became Places of Worship】
Mt. Kinpu is just as much a mountain of worship as Mt. Fuji, and the Kanazakura-jinja Shrine built in its foothills during the Kamakura period (1185−1333) still bustles with many worshippers today. In the Momoyama period (1573-1603), it was the place of worship of the Kai province (ancient Yamanashi) Takeda Clan, and even today it carefully stores items made as dedicatory gifts by Takeda Katsuyori including eight Noh masks, Sumiyoshi Makie Tebako (gold-lacquered box) and Kamon Chirashi Makie Tebako (lacquered box with the Takeda clan crest). Furthermore, in Kai City the original Kamakura period stone torii gate built at the entrance of the pilgrimage path has been excavated and restored. In this area it is possible to feel the mountain worship of yesteryears through the remains of the stonework, the remnants of the former Rakan Temple that was a place for mountain asceticism training, and the 500 Wooden Rakan statues that have been relocated in the present day Rakan Temple.
【Shosenkyo Gorge in Literature and Pictures】
Shosenkyo Gorge along with its crystal has captured the imagination of many people, and was visited by numerous poets during the late Meiji (1868-1912) and early Showa (1926-1989) periods, most notably the poetess Yosano Akiko who wrote many poems there. In the field of painting too, when the famous ukiyo-e painter Utagawa Hiroshige sojourned in Kofu he also visited the Mitake Kodo Gedo path in Shosenkyo Gorge and left some sketches of it, while other well-known works include Takemura Sanyo’s Sengakuhekirozu, which depicts Shosenkyo Gorge at the time of the excavation of Mitake Shindo, and Mitakeshindozu by Saigusa Untai, a painter influenced by Southern-Song paintings.
