Lake Kawaguchi

Interesting facts

In Hokusai's print of Fuji reflected in this lake, the mirrored mountain is snow-capped while the real peak above it is bare.

In 864 lava from an eruption on Fuji's flank flowed towards the lake but stopped short at Naruzawa, sparing it.

Long before the 1914 canal, villagers hand-dug the Niikura drainage tunnel, about 3.8 km long, begun in the early Edo period and finished in 1866.

The lake is shallow for its size: about 6.1 square kilometres in area but only some 15 metres deep at its deepest point.

A small wooded island, Unoshima, rises from the middle of the lake.

In 2013 and 2015 the water dropped so low that people could walk out to a small hexagonal hall that normally stands surrounded by water.

The novelist Jun'ichirō Tanizaki stayed at a lakeside hotel in 1942, and the lake appears in his novel The Makioka Sisters.

Wakasagi smelt and crucian carp, now typical catches here, were introduced to the lake during the Meiji period.

To protect the lake, fishing with soft plastic lures has been banned here since 2007.

Why it is worth it

Lake Kawaguchi, Kawaguchi-ko, lies at the northern foot of Mount Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture, and it is the lake that gives most visitors their first full view of the mountain across open water. It is the second-largest of the Fuji Five Lakes by area, the lowest of them at around 800 metres above sea level, and the one with the longest shoreline. Its setting within Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park and its place in Fuji's cultural landscape brought it into the Fujisan World Heritage Site in 2013.

The lake has no natural outlet. For centuries that meant floods in the lakeside villages whenever the water rose, until a canal linking it to a tributary of the Sagami River was completed in 1914. The altitude gives it cool summers and often frozen winters, and the area has grown into the most developed resort of the five lakes, with lakeside hotels, hot springs, camping grounds, sightseeing boats and fishing; it is also a base for climbers heading up Fuji in the July–August season.

The view is the point, and a few places frame it especially well. On the lake's shore, Oishi Park is famous for photographs of Fuji rising above the water behind beds of flowers, with lavender in early summer. The Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway, opened in 1959, climbs Mount Tenjō to an observatory looking over the lake, the Aokigahara forest and the mountain; its stations are decorated with characters from the folk tale Kachi-Kachi Yama, which is set on this hill.

Sightseeing bus lines run from Kawaguchiko Station to the ropeway and around the shore; Oishi Park is roughly half an hour away by bus. Fuji is often hidden by cloud, so allow time — an early start gives the best chance of a clear summit.

Getting there

The lake lies beside the town of Fujikawaguchiko. Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) is about 94 km away in a straight line and is the practical gateway. From Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, the JR Limited Express Fuji Excursion runs directly to Kawaguchiko Station on the Fuji Kyuko line, and frequent expressway buses, most run by Fuji Kyuko, leave from the Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal, Tokyo Station and Shibuya.

From the encyclopaedia

Lake Kawaguchi is located in the town of Fujikawaguchiko in southern Yamanashi Prefecture near Mount Fuji, Japan. It is the second largest of the Fuji Five Lakes in terms of surface area, and is located at the lowest elevation. It is situated at an altitude of approximately 800 metres (2,625 ft), which accounts for its relatively cool summers and frequently icy winters. It also has the longest shoreline of any of the Fuji Five Lakes.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Lake Kawaguchi

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia