Mount Fuji is Japan’s highest mountain and an iconic symmetrical cone.
It rises to 3,776 metres on Honshu, Japan’s largest island, and is classified as an active stratovolcano. Its broad, snow-capped profile has influenced Japanese art, poetry, pilgrimage, and religious traditions for centuries.
Fuji’s present cone formed during several stages of volcanic growth. The current volcano, known as Shin-Fuji, developed after earlier volcanic edifices called Komitake and Ko-Fuji. The mountain’s last confirmed eruption occurred from December 1707 to February 1708, during the Edo period. That event, called the Hōei eruption, produced ash that reached Edo, now Tokyo.
A common mix-up is confusing Mount Fuji’s height with Japan’s highest point on a non-volcanic peak; Fuji is both the nation’s highest mountain and its highest volcano. UNESCO added the mountain and related cultural sites to its World Heritage List in 2013.