In this research presentation, I show that there is no single dominant deity worshiped at Mt. Fuji, in the context of the Fuji cult in the Edo period. Instead, a large number of deities are part of a vast and constantly evolving pantheon, which keeps being rearranged and compiled by different communities of believers.
I show that the mutations, permutations, and combinations that, especially at the popular level, generated such a complex and unstable system have allowed various levels of reality to be interpreted and understood via Mt. Fuji. The reality of the individual, the geographical reality, as well as that of the whole cosmos find interpretative keys at this mountain. In other words,people found ways to interpret reality via the manipulation and re-creation of the sacred space of Mt. Fuji.
