Mount Fuji

The current kanji for Mount Fuji, and , mean "wealth" or "abundant" and "man of status" respectively. The origins of this spelling and the name Fuji continue to be debated. In Japanese, kanji characters are often applied by sound, and the meaning of the kanji may have nothing to do with the name of the mountain. It was named Fuji before the kanji was applied to it. 富士山記 (Fuji-san Ki) written by Miyako no Yoshika (都良香) in Heian period states, ”The name of the mountain, Fuji, is taken from the name of the county." A text of the 9th century, Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, says that the name came from and also from the image of ascending the mountain slopes. An early folk etymology claims that Fuji came from (not + two), meaning without equal or nonpareil. Another claims that it came from (not + to exhaust), meaning never-ending. Hirata Atsutane, a Japanese classical scholar in the Edo period, speculated that the name is from a word meaning "a mountain standing up shapely as an of a rice plant". British missionary John Batchelor (1855–1944) 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 on the grounds of phonetic development (sound change). Fuji and Fuchi are known to be false friends, and Batchelor's argument is rejected by modern academics. Huchi means "old woman" and ape is the word for "fire", thus ape huchi kamuy is the fire deity. Research on the distribution of place names that fuji suggests that fuji originates in the Yamato language rather than Ainu. Japanese toponymist Kanji Kagami claimed that the name has the same root as and , and came from its "long well-shaped slope". Vovin proposed an alternative hypothesis based on Old Japanese reading : the word may have been borrowed from Eastern Old Japanese 火主, meaning "fire master". Variations In English, the mountain is known as Mount Fuji. Some sources refer to it as "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san". This "san" is not the honorific suffix used with people's names, but the on'yomi of the character used in Sino-Japanese vocabulary. In Nihon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki romanization, the name is transliterated Huzi. Other Japanese names that have become obsolete or poetic include , , , and , created by combining the first character of , Fuji, and , mountain. == History ==

'' woodblock print by Hokusai, 19th century ), Mount Fuji is widely regarded to have an attractive volcanic cone. It has been a frequent subject of Japanese art, especially after 1600, when Edo (now Tokyo) became the capital and people saw the mountain while traveling on the Tōkaidō road. According to historian H. Byron Earhart, "in medieval times it eventually came to be seen by Japanese as the "number one" mountain of the known world of the three countries of India, China, and Japan". The mountain is mentioned in Japanese literature throughout the ages and is the subject of many poems. The summit has been thought of as sacred since ancient times, and was therefore forbidden to women. In 1872 the Japanese government issued an edict (May 4, 1872, Grand Council of State Edict 98) stating, "Any remaining practices of female exclusion on shrine and temple lands shall be immediately abolished, and mountain climbing for worship, etc., shall be permitted." Tatsu Takayama was the first woman on record to summit Mount Fuji in the fall of 1832. Ancient samurai used the base of the mountain as a remote training area, near the present-day town of Gotemba. The shōgun Minamoto no Yoritomo held yabusame archery contests in the area in the early Kamakura period. The first ascent by a foreigner was by Sir Rutherford Alcock in September 1860, who ascended the mountain in 8 hours and descended in 3 hours. Alcock's brief narrative in The Capital of the Tycoon was the first widely disseminated description of the mountain in the West. Photographer Felix Beato climbed Mount Fuji two years later. On April 30, 1936, Mount Rainier National Park of the U.S. and Japan’s Fuji-Hakone National Park started a first-of-its-kind international 'sister mountain' relationship, with Rainier affectionately known as 'Tacoma-Fuji' by Japanese American immigrants of the Seattle area. On March 5, 1966, BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707, broke up in flight and crashed near the Mount Fuji Gotemba New fifth station, shortly after departure. All 113 passengers and 11 crew members died in the crash, which was attributed to clear-air turbulence caused by lee waves downwind of the mountain. A memorial for the crash victims sits near Gotemba New Fifth Station. Today, Mount Fuji is an international destination for tourism and mountain climbing. In the early 20th century, lectures by populist educator Frederick Starr Chautauqua about his ascents of Mount Fuji were widely known in America. A Japanese saying suggests that a wise person will climb Mt. Fuji once in their lifetime, but only a fool would climb it twice. It remains a popular symbol in Japanese culture, including making numerous movie appearances, inspiring the Infiniti logo, and appearing in medicine with the Mount Fuji sign. In September 2004, the staffed weather station at the summit was closed after 72 years in operation. Observers monitored radar sweeps that detected typhoons and heavy rains. The station, which was the highest in Japan at , was replaced by an automated system. Mount Fuji was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. == Geography ==

(May 2001) Mount Fuji is a distinctive feature of the geography of Japan. It stands tall and is located near the Pacific coast of central Honshu, just southwest of Tokyo. It straddles the boundary of Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures. Four small cities surround it - Gotemba to the east, Fujiyoshida to the north, Fujinomiya to the southwest, and Fuji to the south - accompanied by towns and villages. It is surrounded by five lakes: Lake Kawaguchi, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Sai, Lake Motosu and Lake Shōji. They, and nearby Lake Ashi in Kanagawa Prefecture, provide views. The mountain is part of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. It can be seen more distantly from Yokohama, Tokyo, and sometimes as far as Chiba, Saitama, Tochigi, Ibaraki and Lake Hamana under skies. It was photographed from space during a space shuttle mission. Climate The summit has a tundra climate (Köppen climate classification ET). The temperature is low at high altitude, and the cone is covered by snow for several months of the year. The lowest recorded temperature is recorded in February 1981, and the highest temperature was recorded in August 1942. Fuji's seasonal snowcap appears at an average date of 2 October. In 2024, the snowcap formed on 6 November, the latest-occurring since records began in 1894. == Geology ==

: N2 = Tertiary sedimentary rocks; αN2 = Tertiary volcanic rocks; αQ1 = Komitake volcano; α-δQ1 = Ashitaka volcano; βQ2 = Older Fuji volcano; αβQ2 = Younger Fuji volcano. Mount Fuji is located at a triple junction trench where the Eurasian Plate, North American Plate, and Philippine Sea Plate meet. These three plates form the western part of Japan, the eastern part of Japan, and the Izu Peninsula respectively. The Fuji triple junction is only from the Boso triple junction. Fuji's main crater is in diameter and deep. The bottom of the crater is in diameter. Slope angles from the crater to a distance of are 31°–35°, the angle of repose for dry gravel. Beyond this distance, slope angles are about 27°, which is caused by an increase in scoria. Mid-flank slope angles decrease from 23° to less than 10° in the piedmont. Pre-Komitake started erupting in the Middle Pleistocene in an area north of Mount Fuji. After a relatively short pause, eruptions began again, which formed Komitake Volcano. These eruptions ended 100,000 years ago. Ashitaka Volcano was active from 400,000 to 100,000 years ago and is located southeast of Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji started erupting 100,000 years ago, with Ko-Fuji (old-Fuji) forming 100,000 to 17,000 years ago, but it is now almost completely buried. A large landslide on the southwest flank occurred about 18,000 years ago. Shin-Fuji (new-Fuji) eruptions in the form of lava, lapilli, and volcanic ash have occurred between 17,000 and 8,000 years ago, between 7,000 and 3,500 years ago, and between 4,000 and 2,000 years ago. Flank eruptions, mostly in the form of parasitic cinder cones, ceased in 1707. The largest cone, Omuro-Yama, is one of more than 100 cones aligned NW-SE and NE-SW through the summit. Mt. Fuji also has more than 70 lava tunnels and extensive lava tree molds. Two large landslides are at the head of the Yoshida-Osawa and Osawa-Kuzure valleys. Since then, no signs of an eruption are recorded. On the evening of March 15, 2011, however, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake at shallow depth occurred a few kilometres from Mount Fuji on its southern side. Recorded eruptions About 11,000 years ago, a large amount of lava erupted from the west side of the top. This lava formed new Fuji, which is the main body of Mount Fuji. Since then, the tops of ancient Fuji and new Fuji have been side by side. About 2,500–2,800 years ago, the top part of ancient Fuji was destroyed in a large sector collapse and only the top of Shin-Fuji remained. Ten known eruptions can be traced to reliable records. Current eruptive danger Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, media speculated that the shock might induce volcanic unrest at Mount Fuji. In September 2012, mathematical models created by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NRIESDP) suggested that the pressure in Mount Fuji's magma chamber could be 1.6 megapascals higher than before its 1707 eruption. This was interpreted by some media outlets to mean that an eruption of Mount Fuji could be imminent. Absent any method of directly measuring the pressure of a volcano's magma chamber however, indirect calculations of the type used by NRIESDP remained speculative and unverifiable. Other indicators suggestive of heightened eruptive danger, such as active fumaroles and recently discovered faults, are typical occurrences at this type of volcano. Eruption fears continued into the 2020s. In 2021, a new hazard map was created to help residents plan for evacuation, stoking fears because of its increased estimate of lava flow and additional vents. Soon afterwards, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit the area. The Japan Meteorological Agency however, assured the public that the earthquake did not increase the eruption risk. In 2023, a new evacuation plan was developed to account for the 2021 hazard map update. == Aokigahara forest ==

Aokigahara forest sits at Fuji's northwest base. Folk tales and legends tell of ghosts, demons, yūrei and yōkai haunting the forest, and in the 19th century, Aokigahara was one of many places where poor families abandoned their young and elderly. Approximately 30 suicides are counted yearly, with a high of nearly 80 in 2002. The recent increase prompted local officials to erect signs that attempt to convince suicidal individuals to reconsider, which have disrupted some attempts. Earlier suicides have created an allure that has persisted across decades. Many hikers mark their routes by leaving colored plastic tape behind as they pass, raising concern about effects on the forest's ecosystem. == Access ==

temple as depicted by the woodblock artist Katsushika Hokusai. The one hundred views of Mount Fuji. From the Elizabeth Joan Tanney estate, . Transport is overlooked by Mount Fuji. The closest airport with scheduled international service is Mt. Fuji Shizuoka Airport. It opened in June 2009. It is about from Mount Fuji. Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) and Narita International Airport are approximately three hours and 15 minutes from Mount Fuji. Climbing routes '' near the summit Approximately 300,000 people climbed Mount Fuji in 2009. Climbers usually start at the fifth stations, as these are reachable by car or by bus. The summit is the tenth station on each trail. The stations on different routes are at different elevations; the highest fifth station is located at Fujinomiya, followed by Yoshida, Subashiri, and Gotemba. Four routes start from the base of the mountain: Shojiko, Yoshida, Suyama, and Murayama routes. Even though it has only the second-highest elevation, the Yoshida route is the most popular. It offers a large parking area and many large mountain huts where climbers can rest or stay. During the summer season, most Mount Fuji climbing tour buses arrive there. The next most popular is the Fujinomiya route, which has the highest fifth station, followed by Subashiri and Gotemba. The ascent from the fifth station can take anywhere between five and seven hours, while the descent can take from three to four hours. Climbers can visit each of these peaks. Paragliding Paragliders take off in the vicinity of the fifth station, Gotemba parking lot, between Subashiri and Hōei-zan peak on Fuji's south side, and at other locations, depending on wind direction. Several paragliding schools use the wide sandy/grassy slope between Gotemba and Subashiri parking lots as a training hill. Overtourism concerns On 1 February 2024, the Yamanashi prefectural government imposed a mandatory fee of 2,000 yen ($13) for hikers using the Yoshida trail beginning in the summer season as part of efforts to ease congestion and provide funding for safety protocols. It later announced that it would impose a daily limit of 4,000 hikers on the trail and close it between 4 p.m. and 3 a.m. except for guests in mountain lodges. The Shizuoka prefectural government subsequently announced that it would close the Subashiri, Gotemba and Fujinomiya trails at the same time with the same exceptions, citing concerns over congestion. == In culture ==

Shinto mythology In Shinto mythology, Kuninotokotachi ( in Kojiki, or in Nihon Shoki) is one of the two gods born from "something like a reed that arose from the soil" when the earth was chaotic. According to the Nihon Shoki, Konohanasakuya-hime, wife of Ninigi, is the goddess of Mount Fuji, where Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha is dedicated to her. In ancient times, the mountain was worshipped from afar. The Asama shrine was set up at the foothills to ward off eruptions. In the Heian period (794–1185), volcanic activity subsided and Fuji was used as a base for Shugendō, a syncretic religion combining mountain worship and Buddhism. Worshippers began to climb the slopes, and by the early 12th century, Matsudai Shonin had founded a temple on the summit. Fuji-kō was an Edo period cult centred around the mountain that was founded by an ascetic named Hasegawa Kakugyō (1541–1646). The cult venerated the mountain as a female deity, and encouraged its members to climb it. In doing so, they would be reborn, "purified and ... able to find happiness". The cult waned in the Meiji period, and although it persists to this day, it has been subsumed into Shintō sects. and even Kawaii subculture. Before its explosive eruption in 1980, Mount St. Helens was once known as "The Fuji of America", for its striking resemblance to Mount Fuji. Mount Taranaki in New Zealand is also said to bear a resemblance to Mount Fuji, and for this reason has been used as a stand-in for the mountain in films and television. == See also ==