The derivation of the word “Asama” is subject to considerable uncertainty and debate, but the original meaning of the word appears to be connected with volcanoes or volcanic eruptions, and the presence of water springs in the foothills of such mountains. Mountain-worship based cults centered on in
Gunma and in
Mie appear contemporary with the mountain-cult centered on Mount Fuji, via references in the ''
Man'yōshū''. Traditions also exist associating Mount Fuji with immortality-seeking wizards, and attribute the legendary mystical powers of
En no Gyōja to his training on the mountain. From the Heian period, the worship of the volcano
kami as providers of water combined with
Shingon esoteric Buddhism and with
Shugendō practices.
Yamabushi Matsudai Shōnin is said to have climbed Mount Fuji several hundred times and built a temple, with the retired
Emperor Toba as his patron. By the
Muromachi period, pilgrimages to climb Mount Fuji increased in popularity, and
mandala were produced both as souvenirs, and to spread the cult. Such mandala typically depicted pilgrims landing at
Miho no Matsubara, and the various stages of the ascent of Mount Fuji. The top of the mountain is depicted as having three peaks, about which float various
Buddhas and
Bosatsu. In the
Edo period, the
Fuji-kō, a religious confraternity system became extremely popular in the Kantō region, using
magico-religious practices with talismans to protect followers from illness and catastrophe, despite efforts by the authorities to discourage it. After the
Meiji Restoration, the cult of Mount Fuji declined precipitously, and the
Fuji-ko groups are now subsumed into various of the sect Shintō organizations. ==Related shrines==