“Let me on! Let me on!”
A child’s voice cried out at the Gekkoji Temple pond. It may be quiet and full of artificially pumped water, but long ago it used to flow with spring water from Mt. Fuji. The elevated ground is entirely made from lava, and snowmelt runoff accumulated below it, resulting in this pond.
While the lake is beautiful and is home to freshwater crabs, children used to gather here for a single purpose: the boats. On the left side facing the lake, there was a boat rental shop; the duck-shaped boats were wobbly, and many of them ended up capsizing and sinking to the hardened lava floor under the pond.
A boy once was commended for rescuing his friend who’d fallen into the Gekkouji Temple pond. He was hailed for his courage; his father was surely proud as well.
But there’s another side to this story.
“Let me on! Let me on!”
His friend, the one who’d fallen into the pond, was standing at its edge, waving his hands. At that time, the boy on the boat noticed him and said “‘Kay, hold on,” and approached the bank. As soon as his friend put both feet on the boat, the boy felt like playing a prank...and then...
Ker-splash!
He suddenly pushed off the bank, staggering his friend and sending him splashing into the water. After having a victorious laugh, he apologized and pulled his friend back on the boat. That last moment was the only thing the adults saw.
“Don’t tell anyone what really happened, ok?”
whispered the boy to his soaking friend. After hushing up his friend, he accepted all the praise with a big smile on his face.
Incidentally, long ago there used to be a children’s amusement park near Gekkoji Temple. You can leave your boat floating in the waters and follow the road up the hill to find a zoo with birds and monkeys, a small railway, and even a Ferris wheel.
It wasn’t just the kids who had reason to get excited; adults also celebrated whenever they came to the pond. Gekkoji Temple hosted festivals including Bon Odori, as well as putting on stage plays and ballad shows at the stage in the temple grounds. A ring was made specifically to invite the yokozuna of the time, the sumo wrestling champion, to a match as part of his provincial tour, and they even held a pro wrestling match there featuring the legendary Giant Baba. With an elevated, full view of Mt. Fuji, its event facilities, and amusement park, the place came alive during special occasions for children and adults alike.
The local shopping district holds the well-loved “Yoi ko no Hanabi taikai”, or “Fireworks Show for Good Kids” at the Temple on August 7th, for the children who cannot participate in the Kojosai, the liveliest festival of the Fuji Five Lakes region, which takes place at Lake Kawaguchi.
