Mount Fuji‘s past eruptions and resulting lava flows have created multiple caves in the Fuji Five Lake region around the mountain’s northern base.
Today, three of these caves have been developed and opened to tourists to be explored without special equipment or guides. Take caution, however, as some of the caves have passages with low ceilings and steep steps that can be slippery when wet.
Fugaku Wind Cave, 富岳風穴
In the past, this cave was used as a natural storehouse and refrigerator, as the temperature inside stays at a relatively constant zero degrees Celsius throughout the year. The cave is furnished with a few shelves that store boxes of acorns and silkworm cocoons. It is the most easily walkable and least exciting of the three caves.
The Fuji Fugaku Wind Cave is surrounded by the abundant greenery of the Aokigahara Jukai forest. Once you enter the cave, it is pleasantly cool even in summer, with an average temperature of 3℃. Up until the beginning of the Showa era, it was used as a refrigerator to store the eggs of silkworms. The cave has also been designated as a Japanese natural monument. The lateral cave is 201m long and 8.7m high, and strangely enough, does not produce an audible echo. This is because its basaltic walls act to absorb the sound. In the course of a 15 minute sight-seeing tour, one can see lava shelves, rope-like lava, and ice pillars that do not melt even in summer..
Gallery
Fugaku Wind Cave - Entrance
Fugaku Wind Cave - View
