Fujisan (Japan, Ōwakudani)

Mount Fuji, a national symbol and sacred mountain of Japan, is an active volcano rising to 3,776 meters , located between the prefectures of Shizuoka and Yamanashi. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013 , it embodies a central figure in Shintoism , as the home of Konohanasakuya-hime , a goddess associated with flowering and renewal.

This image, taken from Ōwakudani , a volcanic valley renowned for its sulfurous fumaroles, shows the snow-capped cone of Fujisan in all its symmetry. Mount Fuji has been the object of ritual pilgrimages since the 7th century, when Emperor Jomei is said to have burned an elixir of immortality on its summit, marking its status as a sacred mountain.

Mount Fuji is a stratovolcano , dormant since its last eruption in 1707, but still monitored. It is also one of the most photographed places in the world for its perfect conical shape and its role in the Japanese collective imagination . In winter, its summit remains snow-capped and visible from Tokyo on a clear day.