Researchers Date Mount Fuji Mound

FUJI, JAPAN—The Asahi Shimbun reports that ceramics have helped researchers date Suzukawa no Fujizuka to the eighteenth century. During the Edo Period, (1603-1867), fujizuka, or mountain-shaped mounds, were constructed to honor Mount Fuji by religious groups known as fujiko. The ceramics, when combined with a date inscribed on a stone lantern at the monument, suggest that Suzukawa no Fujizuka was built before the practice became popular. Mountain ascetics, when preparing to climb Mount Fuji, brought stones from the ocean shoreline and placed them on top of Suzukawa no Fujizuka to pray for safety. The researchers also found smooth stones at Suzukawa no Fujizuka. To read more about archaeology in Japan, go to "Dogu Figurine."