Japan Navigator

Pythagoras calls three the perfect number, expressive of “beginning, middle, and end,” and he therefore makes it the symbol of the divine. The Japanese, too, are fond of this number, and the Japanese-language Wikipedia has an enormous page with lists of “the best three… (fill in what you like) in Japan,” ranging from nature, architecture, religion, food, history, to life and entertainment.

Here we will keep to geography, starting with The Three Greatest Mountains, and not surprisingly Japan’s three holy peaks consist of Mt Fuji (3,776 m; 12,388 ft), the beautiful conical volcano at the border of Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefectures that is the symbol of the whole country; Tateyama, a group of peaks in eastern Toyama Pref., with snowy ravines and beautiful alpine flora (the highest peak is Onanjiyama at 3,015 m or 9,892 ft); and Mt Hakusan (2,702 m; 8,865 ft), the famous volcano on the border of Ishikawa and Gifu Prefectures, and like the other two, a pilgrimage center.

[The Nachi Falls - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

The Three Sacred Waterfalls are the Nachi Falls (133 m or 436 ft) in southern Wakayama Pref., in the Yoshino-Kumano National park - contrary to what you would expect, a thin, whispy thread of a waterfall; the Kegon Falls (97 m or 318 ft) in Nikko, draining into a gorge from Lake Chuzenji, probably Japan’s most spectacular waterfall; and the Nunobiki Falls in Kobe, only 43 metres but famous in classical poetry.

The Three Greatest Lakes of the country are Lake Biwa (672 sq km; circumference: 277 km; deepest point: 104 m), taking up 1/6 of the whole of Shiga Pref.; Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Pref. (168 sq km; circumference: 137 km; depth: 7 m) and Lake Saroma in northern Hokkaido (152 sq km; circumference: 90 km; depth: 20 m), in fact a lagoon on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk.

[Lake Biwa and the Ukimido or Floating Hall - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

The “Three Famous Landscapes” (Nihon Sankei) are of course Matsushima, a group 260 tiny but scenic islands in Matsushima Bay, Miyagi Pref, near Sendai (don’t miss National Treasure temple Zuiganji here); Amanohashidate, a sandbar with interestingly gnarled pine trees in western Wakasa Bay near the Tango Peninsula, northwestern Kyoto Pref.; and Miyajima (also known as Itsukushima), a forested island in Hiroshima Bay that is home to a National Treasure shrine famous for its huge vermilion torii gate standing in the sea.

[The sandbar of Amanohashidate in winter - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

The Three Great (Daimyo) Gardens: Korakuen, established in 1702 by daimyo Ikeda Tsunemasa and an example of the Kobori Enshu school of landscape gardening - the garden is adorned by tea houses, ponds, waterfalls, a noh-stage and even a miniature tea plantation and rice paddy (13.3 hectares); Kenrokuen in Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa, laid out in 1822 by daimyo Maeda Narinaga and famous for its beauty in all seasons, plus for possessing the oldest fountain in Japan (10 hectares); and Kairakuen in Mito, the capital of Ibaraki, known for its forest of plum trees (ume) and established in 1842 by powerful daimyo Tokugawa Nariaki (7.5 hectares).

[Kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa- Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

The Three Night Views: Hakodate seen from Mt Hakodate; Kobe from Mt Maya and Nagasaki from Mt Inasa.

The Three Great Festivals (matsuri): the Sanno festival of the Hie Shrine in Tokyo, a parade featuring ancient court costumes and celebrated from June 7 to 16 - the deity Sanno Gongen was the guardian of Edo Castle; the Gion festival of the Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto, famous for the parade of giant, wheeled floats on July 17, although held during the whole month of July; and the Tenjin festival of the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka, held July 24 and 25 and featuring a procession of boats on the River Yodo.

[Enryakuji Temple on Mt Hiei - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

The Three Great Sacred Places: Osorezan, a mountain on the Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori Pref., a desolate volcanic landscape sacred to shamans; Mt Hiei, northwest of Kyoto, with Enryakuji, the headquarters of Tendai Buddhism; and Mt. Koya in Wakayama Pref., the headquarters of Shingon Buddhism….

and so on…

all the way to the Three Great Temple Bells (of Onjoji, Byodoin and Jingoji), which will soon be ringing out the old year with one-hundred and eight peals…

[Bell of Onjoji (Miidera) in Otsu - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]