With its graceful, conical form, Mount Fuji is one of Japan’s national symbols and the highest peak in the country. It is also the subject of countless works in painting (such as Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and 100 Views of Mount Fuji from the 1830s), woodblock prints, poetry, music, theater, film, anime, pottery, and Kawai subculture. The mountain has been regarded as an object of worship by the Japanese people since ancient times.
It is located on the border of Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, and has been known to erupt periodically. The volcano has a crater about 1,600 feet (500 meters) in diameter with eight prominent peaks: Oshidake, Izudake, Jojudake, Komagatake, Kengamine, Mushimatake, and Hukusandake.
Fuji is considered to be sacred by some, and the mountain’s summit is home to a number of shrines. The samurai once used the area around the base of the mountain as a remote training ground for yabusame archery contests, and it was also the site of the first shinto festival in the Kamakura period.
The map marks the locations of sacred sites—shrines, temples, and statues as well as meditation caves—and pilgrimage routes on Mount Fuji, including the official Murayama Shugendo route and other alternative paths that emerged after the fourteenth-century asceticism leader Matsudai and his successor Raison opened up Shugendo to some laypeople. It is intended to help visitors make their pilgrimage to the summit and other destinations on Mount Fuji, particularly during the busiest tourist season between July and August.
