Japan is home to Mount Fuji, the volcano widely recognized as a symbol of the country.
Mount Fuji is a 3,776-metre-tall stratovolcano on Honshu, Japan’s largest island. It stands west of Tokyo and near the Pacific coast, where its symmetrical cone is visible from broad areas under clear conditions. Fuji is Japan’s highest mountain and an important subject in Japanese art, literature, religion, and tourism.
The mountain’s present form developed through repeated volcanic activity. Its last confirmed eruption began in December 1707 and continued into early 1708. The eruption produced ash that reached Edo, the city now called Tokyo, but Mount Fuji has remained dormant since then.
Fuji has long been associated with Shinto and Buddhist traditions. Artists such as Katsushika Hokusai made it internationally famous through works including Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. UNESCO added the mountain and related cultural sites to the World Heritage List in 2013 as “Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration.”