Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 m (12,388 ft). A dormant volcano that last erupted in 1707–08, it straddles the boundary of Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures just west of Tokyo, from which it can be seen on a clear day. It is located near the Pacific coast of central Honshū. Three small cities surround it: Gotemba (east), Fujiyoshida (north) and Fujinomiya (southwest).
Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mt. Fuji stands at 3,776 m (12,388 ft) high and is surrounded by five lakes: Lake Kawaguchi, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Sai, Lake Motosu and Lake Shoji. They, and nearby Lake Ashi, provide excellent views of the mountain. It is part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. It is also a stratovolcano. The climate is very cold due to the altitude and the cone is covered by snow for several months of the year. The lowest recorded temperature is −38.0 °C while on June 2008 the highest temperature was recorded at 17.8 °C.
It can be seen from Yokohama, Tokyo, and sometimes as far as Chiba when the sky is clear.
The current kanji for Mount Fuji, 富 and 士, mean wealth or abundant and a man with a certain status respectively, but these characters are probably ateji; the characters were likely selected because their pronunciations match the syllables of the name, and do not carry a particular meaning.
The origin of the name Fuji is unclear. An early folk etymology claims that Fuji came from 不二 (not + two), meaning without equal or nonpareil. Another claims that it came from (not + exhaust), meaning neverending. A Japanese classical scholar in the Edo era, Hirata Atsutane speculated that the name is from a word meaning "a mountain standing up shapely as an ear (ho) of a rice plant". A British missionary John Batchelor (1854-1944) argued that the name is from the Ainu word for 'fire' (fuchi) of the fire deity (Kamui Fuchi), which was denied by a Japanese linguist Kyōsuke Kindaichi (1882-1971) on the grounds of phonetic development (sound change). It is also pointed out that huchi means an 'old woman' and ape is the word for 'fire', ape huchi kamuy being the fire deity. Research on the distribution of place names that include fuji as a part also suggest the origin of the word fuji is in the Yamato language rather than Ainu. A Japanese toponymist Kanji Kagami argued that the name has the same root as 'wisteria' (fuji) and 'rainbow' (niji, but with an alternative word fuji), and came from its "long well-shaped slope".
A text of the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter says that the name came from "immortal" and also from the image of abundant soldiers ascending the slopes of the mountain.
It is thought that the first ascent was in 663 by an anonymous monk. The summit has been thought of as sacred since ancient times and was forbidden to women until the Meiji Era.
The first ascent by a foreigner was by Sir Rutherford Alcock in 1860.
Today, it is a popular tourist destination and common destination for mountain-climbing.
Mount Fuji is an attractive volcanic cone and a frequent subject of Japanese art. Amongst the most renowned works are Hokusai's 36 Views of Mount Fuji and his One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji. The mountain is also mentioned in Japanese literature throughout the ages and the subject of many poems.
Mt. Fuji also houses a warrior tradition: ancient samurai used the base of the mountain as a remote training area, near the present day town of Gotemba. The shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo held yabusame in the area in the early Kamakura period. As of 2006, the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the United States Marine Corps operate military bases near Mount Fuji. |
