Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji, highest mountain in Japan. It rises to 12,388 feet (3,776 meters) 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 center of a UNESCO World Heritage site designated in 2013.

Geography and climate

Mount Fuji’s nearly symmetrical cone dominates the surrounding landscape and is visible from great distances on clear days. The base of the volcano is about 78 miles (125 km) in circumference and has a diameter of some 25 to 30 miles (40 to 50 km). At its summit the crater spans about 1,600 feet (500 meters) in diameter and sinks to a depth of about 820 feet (250 meters). Around the jagged edges of the crater are eight peaks—Oshaidake, Izudake, Jojudake, Komagatake, Mushimatake, Kengamine, Hukusandake, and Kusushidake.

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 meters), is noted for the inverted reflection of Mount Fuji on its still waters.

Environmental conditions vary sharply with elevation. The lower slopes are forested, while above the forest line the mountain is largely barren, with volcanic rock, ash, and only sparse vegetation. At its base Mount Fuji has a temperate to subtropical climate, with warm, humid summers and cooler winters. At the summit, conditions are alpine, with average temperatures ranging from about −2.2 °F (−19 °C) in winter to roughly 44 °F (6.8 °C) in summer.

Annual precipitation averages about 89 inches (2,272 mm), with the heaviest rainfall occurring in summer. The summit is covered with snow for much of the year, typically beginning in early autumn. In recent years environmental changes on the mountain, including an upward shift of the tree line and rising temperatures at the summit, have been linked to changing climatic conditions.

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Geological origin

According to tradition the volcano was formed in 286 bce by an earthquake. The truth is somewhat more complex. The age of Fuji is disputed, but it seems to have formed during the past 2.6 million years on a base dating from up to 65 million years ago; the first eruptions and the first peaks probably occurred sometime after 700,000 years ago. The earliest precursors to Mount Fuji were Komitake (which forms the mountain’s north slope) and Ashitaka-yama (which sits southeast of the mountain).

Mount Fuji is a stratovolcano that rose sometime after 400,000 years ago between the peaks of Komitake and Ashitaka-yama. The present-day mountain is a composite of three successive volcanoes: At the bottom is Komitake, which was surmounted by Ko Fuji (“Old Fuji”) about 100,000 years ago and, finally, by the most recent, Shin Fuji (“New Fuji”). Over the millennia the lava and other ejecta from Ko Fuji covered most of Komitake, though the top of the latter’s cone continued to protrude from the slope of Ko Fuji. Shin Fuji probably first became active about 10,000 years ago and has continued ever since to smolder or erupt occasionally. In the process it has filled in the slopes of its predecessors and added the summit zone, producing the mountain’s now nearly perfect tapered form.

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Mount Fuji is part of the Fuji Volcanic Zone, a volcanic chain that extends northward from the Mariana Islands and the Izu Islands through the Izu Peninsula to northern Honshu. Geologists note that the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Philippine Plate at the Nankai Trough, which extends along Japan’s southern coast, likely drives Mount Fuji’s volcanic activity. Large eruptions occur about every 500 years. Accounts of the most recent major eruption, in December 1707, note that ash darkened the midday sky as far as Edo (now Tokyo) and buried temples and dwellings near the mountain. Geologists report that the eruption was triggered by a magnitude-8.4 earthquake, which struck the region 49 days earlier. Mount Fuji’s volcanic activity since 1707 has been limited mostly to small earthquakes; however, a magnitude-6.4 aftershock struck the mountain’s southern flank in the days following the Great Sendai Earthquake of 2011.

Cultural significance

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 essential symbol of Japan. It has long been considered sacred and has been the focus of religious devotion, particularly in Shintō tradition, in which it is associated with the goddess Konohanasakuya-hime. Shrines dedicated to this deity, particularly those of the Sengen (Asama) shrine network, were established both as centers of worship and to placate the volcano’s destructive power, and pilgrimage routes gradually developed along its slopes. By the 12th century a temple had been established near the summit.

From the Heian period (794–1185) onward, Mount Fuji became associated with Shugen-dō, a form of mountain asceticism combining elements of Buddhism and indigenous belief. In the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), the Fuji-kō religious movement emerged, venerating the mountain and promoting pilgrimage to its summit.

Climbing the mountain has long formed part of its religious significance, with ascents traditionally undertaken as acts of devotion. Pilgrims often wore white robes symbolizing ritual purity, and women were barred from climbing until the Meiji Restoration (1868).

The image of Mount Fuji 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.