Mount Fuji is in Japan. At 3,776 metres, it is Japan’s highest mountain and one of the country’s most recognizable natural landmarks.
The volcano stands on Honshu, Japan’s largest island, roughly 100 kilometres southwest of Tokyo. Its symmetrical cone was formed by repeated volcanic activity, and the present mountain is the youngest of three overlapping volcanoes known as Komitake, Ko-Fuji, and Shin-Fuji.
Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano, although its last confirmed eruption occurred in 1707. That event, the Hoei eruption, deposited ash across nearby areas. The mountain has also been a major subject in Japanese art, especially in Katsushika Hokusai’s series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. It is a sacred site in Japanese tradition and became part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing “Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration” in 2013. Fuji is sometimes confused with Mount Tate and Mount Haku, two other peaks included among Japan’s “Three Holy Mountains.”