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| Mount Fuji |
Mount fuji 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 , 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 , 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.”
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| Hitachi no kuni fudoki |
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.
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| Mount Fuji art |
The base of the volcano is about 78 miles (125 km) and has a diameter of some 25 to 30 miles (40 to 50 km). At the summit of Mount Fuji the crater spans about 1,600 feet (500 metres) in surface diameter and sinks to a depth of about 820 feet (250 metres). Around the jagged edges of the crater are eight peaks—Oshaidake, Izudake, Jojudake, Komagatake, Mushimatake, Kengamme, Hukusandake, and Kukushidake.
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