Fuji Mountain





Mount Fuji, Japanese Fuji-san, also spelled Fujisan, also called Fujiyama or Fuji no Yama, highest mountain in Japan. It rises to 12,388 feet (3,776 metres) near the Pacific Ocean coast in Yamanashi and Shizuoka ken (prefectures) of central Honshu, about 60 miles (100 km) west of the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area. It is a volcano that has been dormant since its last eruption, in 1707, but is still generally classified as active by geologists. The mountain is the major feature of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park (1936), and it is at the centre of a UNESCO World Heritage site designated in 2013.


The origin of the mountain’s name is uncertain. It first appears as Fuji no Yama in Hitachi no kuni fudoki (713 CE), an early government record. Among the several theories about the source of the name is that it is derived from an Ainu term meaning “fire,” coupled with san, the Japanese word for “mountain.” The Chinese ideograms (kanji) now used to write Fuji connote more of a sense of good fortune or well-being. In the present day the Japanese typically refer to the mountain as Fujisan, whereas foreign visitors tend to refer to the mountain somewhat incorrectly as Mount Fujiyama, which translates to “Mount Fuji mountain” in the Japanese language.


Mount Fuji, with its graceful conical form, has become famous throughout the world and is considered the sacred symbol of Japan. Among Japanese there is a sense of personal identification with the mountain, and each summer thousands of Japanese climb to the shrine on its peak. Its image has been reproduced countless times in Japanese art, perhaps no more famously than in the series of woodblock prints Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by Hokusai, which were originally published between 1826 and 1833.

On the northern slopes of Mount Fuji lie the Fuji Five Lakes (Fuji Goko), comprising, east to west, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, Lake Sai, Lake Shōji, and Lake Motosu, all formed by the damming effects of lava flows. The lowest, Lake Kawaguchi, at 2,726 feet (831 metres), is noted for the inverted reflection of Mount Fuji on its still waters. Tourism in the area is highly developed, with amusement parks, botanical gardens, ski resorts, and other recreational sites. Lake Yamanaka, the largest of the lakes (at 2.5 square miles [6.4 square km]), is one of the most popular resort areas. West of the mountain, the valley between Mount Fuji and Mount Kenashi also hosts numerous golf courses and other attractions. Southeast of Mount Fuji is the wooded volcanic Hakone region, well known for its hot-springs resorts at Yumoto and Gōra.

The area’s abundant groundwater and streams facilitate the operation of paper and chemical industries and farming. Cultivation of rainbow trout and dairy farming are other activities.

A sacred mountain (one sect, the Fujikō, accords it virtually a soul), Mount Fuji is surrounded by temples and shrines, there being shrines even at the edge and the bottom of the crater. Climbing the mountain has long been a religious practice, though until the Meiji Restoration (1868) women were not allowed to climb it. The ascent in early times was usually made in the white robes of a pilgrim. Today hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and recreational climbers alike flock there annually, mostly during the climbing season from July 1 to August 26. Typically, climbers set out at night in order to reach the summit by dawn.