Mount Fuji

Aokigahara Haunted Forest

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano situated on a Honshu Island in Japan. Mount Fuji is classified as an active volcano, but with little risk of eruption. The last time it erupted was in 1707- 08, during the Edo period. Then, a new crater was formed, as well as a second peak (called Hoeizan by the name of the era). This picturesque volcano that rises at a height of 12388 ft (3776 m). Snow covered peak with a perfect cone shaped the mountain drew people and captivated artists' imagination. Mount Fuji is an attractive volcanic cone and is a recurring theme in Japanese art. The most renowned work is the masterpiece 36 views of Mount Fuji by the ukiyo-e painter Katsushika Hokusai. It also appears in Japanese literature and is the subject of many poems.

Climbing Mount Fuji

Over 200,000 climb Mount Fuji every year. Japan saying states that you have to be a fool not to climb Mount Fuji and you have to be a fool to do it twice. Remember to check weather conditions and take warm clothes or gear that you need. The four routes that will take you to the summit are Slojiko, Yoshido, Sujana and Murajama.

The modern kanji used for the name Fuji is 富 (wealth, abundance) and 士 (noble man). However, it is likely that these characters are ateji, which means that they were chosen due to pronunciation and do not carry a semantic load.

The origin of the name Fuji remains unclear. The story of Taketori Monogatari, dated from the 10th century, says that the name came from the word immortality (Japanese 不死 fushi, fuji), as well as from many (Japanese 富 fu) soldiers (Japanese 士 si, ji) climbing the mountain . In early folk etymology, it was claimed that the word Fuji came from 不二 (not + two) meaning "unparalleled," "incomparable." Another statement was that the basis is это (not + exhaust) meaning "inexhaustibility." A Japanese scholar of the Edo period, Hirata Atsutane, suggested that the name came from a word meaning "a mountain standing slim as a rice spikelet (ho)."

The British missionary John Batchelor (1854–1944) claimed that the name comes from the Ainu word meaning “fire (futi) of the fiery deity (Kamui Futi)”, which was refuted by the Japanese linguist Kyosuke Kindaiti (1882-1971), based on considerations of phonetic development (phonetic change). He also noted that Huti means “old woman,” ape means “fire”; Ape huti kamui - deity of fire. Studies of the distribution of toponyms suggest that the origin of the word "Fuji" lies more in the Yamato language than in Ainu. Japanese toponymist Kanji Kagami argued that the word has the same root as the words "wisteria" (fuji), "rainbow" (niji, there is also an alternative fuji) and comes from their commonality, "a beautiful long slope."

Name Options
In Western sources, Mount Fuji is often called "Fuji", or even excessively "Mount Fuji". This reading is not correct in standard Japanese. Other Fuji names are outdated or used only in poetry, among them Fuji-no yama (ふ じ の 山, Mount Fuji), Fuji-no takane (ふ じ の 高嶺, High peak Fuji), Fuȳ-hō (芙蓉峰, Lotus peak), Fugaku (富 岳 or 富 嶽, where the first character is part of Fuji's own name and the second stands for mountain). At the moment, the most correct name is Fuji-san / Fujisan / 富士山, where the last character means "mountain".

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