Professor Janine Sawada publishes her latest book, Faith In Mount Fuji: The Rise of Independent Religion in Early Modern Japan (2022). Mount Fuji has long been considered a sacred site.  Pilgrimages to the mountain increased during the beginning of the Tokugawa period (1607-1863).  In this book, Prof. Sawada details how the Fuji movement illustrates a larger transformation in popular religion that took place during that time.  Devotees of Mount Fuji may have even used these religious practices to establish subtle resistance to the restrictiveness of the Tokugawa order and laid the groundwork for important teachings by Jikgyo Miroku (1671-1773).  For more information on the book, please visit the University of Hawai'i Press website.