Mount Fuji (富士山) is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji’s exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers. It is one of Japan’s “Three Holy Mountains” along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. In English, the mountain is known as Mount Fuji. Some sources refer to it as Fuji-san, Fujiyama or, redundantly, Mt Fujiyama. Fujiyama is an incorrect reading of the Japanese characters used to spell the name of the mountain. Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as Fuji-san. However, this -san suffix is not the honorific used with people’s names, such as Watanabe-san, but rather the on’yomi reading of the character 山 yama (meaning mountain) used in compounds. Below the pictures I took of the Fujisan, while climbing it, from Hakone and from Kawaguchiko.
