Pagoda and Fuji
The famous view.
Olivier Bruchez from Lausanne, Switzerland — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Benh LIEU SONG from Torcy, France — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Vitor Coelho Nisida from São Paulo, Brasil — Public domain · Olivier Bruchez from Lausanne, Switzerland — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Olivier Bruchez from Lausanne, Switzerland — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Olivier Bruchez from Lausanne, Switzerland — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Gifu-sizu — CC0
A red five-storey pagoda on the slope of Mount Arakura in Fujiyoshida, with Mount Fuji rising behind it, one of the views most often used to represent Japan in photos and posters. It was on the cover of the fourth edition of the Michelin Green Guide Japan and is among the Ministry of the Environment's «100 Views of Mount Fuji». The pagoda is not a temple but a memorial to the city's war dead, the Chūrei-tō, built of reinforced concrete and completed in 1962 at 19.5 metres tall; a memorial service is held there every September. It stands in Arakurayama Sengen Park, laid out in 1959 over about 4.3 hectares and home to the Arakura Fuji Sengen Shinto shrine. Visitors climb the Sakuya-hime stairway, 398 steps and about 200 metres long, and from the viewing deck above comes the famous picture: the red pagoda, the town below and Fuji on the horizon. The park has about 650 cherry trees, which usually bloom in early April, and turns red and gold in autumn. Entry is free. It is about a 10-minute walk from Shimoyoshida Station on the Fujikyu line and gets very crowded in cherry season, so much so that the city decided not to hold its cherry blossom festival in 2026 because of the strain on the neighbourhood. Fuji is clearest early in the morning and on clear autumn and winter days.
The famous view.
398 steps.
About 650 trees.
Arakura, Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture
No, it is a memorial to Fujiyoshida's war dead in the form of a five-storey pagoda, completed in 1962 in Arakurayama Sengen Park.