A great wave curls over fishing boats with a small snow-capped cone behind it (1831)
The Great Wave off Kanagawa, from Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of this mountain
Geography · Physical geography
Mount Fuji
last erupted 1707–08
Highest mountain in Japan, 3,776 m — an active stratovolcano on the Shizuoka–Yamanashi border
A near-symmetrical stratovolcano rising to 3,776 metres about 100 km south-west of Tokyo, and the highest mountain in Japan. It last erupted in the Hoei eruption of 1707–08, which dusted Edo with ash, and it remains an active volcano. Sacred to Shinto and to Shugendo pilgrims, it was inscribed by UNESCO in 2013 not as a natural site but as a cultural one, for its hold over Japanese art.
How to spot them
- ▸A conical snow-capped volcano, 3,776 m, the highest point in Japan and a World Heritage cultural site
- ▸Quiz clue: 'Hoei', 'Sengen', 'Aokigahara', 'Fuji Five Lakes', 'Thirty-six Views'
- ▸Straddles the border of Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures; visible from Tokyo on clear days
- ▸Its summit land is legally owned not by the state but by a Shinto shrine
Key facts
Its last eruption, in 1707–08, opened a new crater on the south-east flank and rained ash on Edo (1707)
The Hoei eruption, named for the era; it followed a great earthquake by weeks
UNESCO listed it in 2013 as a cultural rather than a natural site, for its artistic influence (2013)
'Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration'
Above the eighth station the land belongs to the Sengen Taisha shrine, not to the Japanese state
Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha at Fujinomiya; its deity is Konohanasakuya-hime
A dense forest on its northern flank, Aokigahara, grew on lava from an eruption of 864
The 'Sea of Trees'
Five lakes ring its northern foot, among them Kawaguchi and Yamanaka
The Fuji Five Lakes, dammed by old lava flows
Climbing is confined to an official season of roughly July to early September, from four fifth stations
The Yoshida, Subashiri, Gotemba and Fujinomiya trails
Quick-fire facts
- •Height 3,776 m — the highest mountain in Japan
- •A stratovolcano on the Pacific Ring of Fire, still classed as active
- •The 1707–08 Hoei eruption was its most recent; it left the Hoei crater on the south-east flank
- •Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 2013, under cultural criteria
- •Its summit area is owned by the Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha shrine at Fujinomiya
- •Hokusai's Thirty-six Views and Hiroshige's own series made the mountain a global emblem
- •Aokigahara, the 'Sea of Trees', lies on its northern flank on lava from the Jogan eruption of 864
- •'Goraiko' is the ritual of watching sunrise from the crater rim
- •It stands near a triple junction of the Amurian, Okhotsk and Philippine Sea plates
Drill it — 8 cards
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Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration
- Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefectural Governments — Official Web Site for Climbing Mount Fuji