Showstopping peaks? The Matterhorn. Everest. Table. And, of course, Mt Fuji – or Fuji-san to locals. It’s almost the perfect mountain: a geometrically satisfying cone, rising 3,776m above surrounding villages and a tree-fringed sea, south-west of Tokyo, from where its snow-kissed peak is visible on a good day. Climbing it, or just taking a snap, it’s no surprise to discover the site, one of Japan’s three holy mountains, has been a sacred place of pilgrimage for centuries. It has had a major impact on priests as well as tourists, with its seismic rumblings – it last erupted over 300 years ago – inspiring Shintoist and Buddhist practices. It’s also had people reaching for their paintbrushes. Mount Fuji’s depiction in historic Japanese art, particularly a series of 19th-century wood block prints, were a huge hit with Western creative types, thrusting the landscape into the popular consciousness. The newly protected area embraces 1,500m of the peak and sites across the mountain’s slopes and base, including Sengen Jinja crater shrines, Oshi lodging houses and lava tree springs and waterfalls. All are sacred, and now they’re also Unesco listed – as a ‘cultural’ rather than a ‘natural’ heritage site, on account of their spiritual significance.
Mount Fuji - Japan
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Showstopping peaks? The Matterhorn. Everest. Table. And, of course, Mt Fuji – or Fuji-san to locals. It’s almost the perfect mountain: a geometrically satisfying cone, rising 3,776m above surrounding villages and a tree-fringed sea, south-west of Tokyo, from where its snow-kissed peak is visible on a good day. Climbing it, or just taking a snap, it’s no surprise to discover the site, one of Japan’s three holy mountains, has been a sacred place of pilgrimage for centuries. It has had a major impact on priests as well as tourists, with its seismic rumblings – it last erupted over 300 years ago – inspiring Shintoist and Buddhist practices. It’s also had people reaching for their paintbrushes. Mount Fuji’s depiction in historic Japanese art, particularly a series of 19th-century wood block prints, were a huge hit with Western creative types, thrusting the landscape into the popular consciousness. The newly protected area embraces 1,500m of the peak and sites across the mountain’s slopes and base, including Sengen Jinja crater shrines, Oshi lodging houses and lava tree springs and waterfalls. All are sacred, and now they’re also Unesco listed – as a ‘cultural’ rather than a ‘natural’ heritage site, on account of their spiritual significance.
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