MT.FUJI WORLD HERITAGE CENTRE, SHIZUOKA

The Beautiful Mountain

The holy volcano Fuji. Its graceful form, clad in white snow cascading serenely down its ridgelines, has been praised in ancient poems and has also been conveyed in works of art. This zone introduces the Mt. Fuji that is depicted in art and literature.

Beautiful Mountain

The appearance of Mt. Fuji with its graceful ridges was made the subject of ancient poetry. A poem by Yamabe no Akahito published in Anthology of Ten-Thousand Leaves that reads "When I walk along t....
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The appearance of Mt. Fuji with its graceful ridges was made the subject of ancient poetry. A poem by Yamabe no Akahito published in Anthology of Ten-Thousand Leaves that reads "When I walk along the Tago coast, pure white snow is falling on the lofty peak of Fuji" is especially well-known, and has been partially revised for inclusion in the New Collection of Ancient and Modern Poetry. While Mt. Fuji continued to be an inspiration for Japanese and Chinese poetry, it is also referred to in Noh songs such as Hagoromo and adorned a range of literary genres from the Edo period.
In addition to poetry, Mt. Fuji was also the motif of Ukiyoe prints of landscapes. However, because prints dating before the Dynastic period were all lost, The Illustrated Legends of Prince Shōtoku dated 1069 is the earliest existing representation. Mt. Fuji was later depicted in the illustrated scrolls of The Tales of Ise and other, but became a standard core motif of paintings from the Muromachi period. After the artist Kanō Tan'yū established the canononical model of the Mt. Fuji painting in the early Edo period, Mt. Fuji became an independent painting genre. In the later 18th century to the 19th century, there was an emergence of painters who were skillful in depicting Mt. Fuji, such as Shiba Kōkan, Katsushika Hokusai, and Tani Bunchō.

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The legend of Princess Kaguya as told in Fuji

In Fuji City of Shizuoka Prefecture, a slightly different version of the well-known The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is told. Princess Kaguya returns not to the moon, but to Mt. Fuji. Not only that, s....
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In Fuji City of Shizuoka Prefecture, a slightly different version of the well-known The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is told. Princess Kaguya returns not to the moon, but to Mt. Fuji. Not only that, she is said to be a god of Mt. Fuji.

The old man Taketori no Okina lived in the village of Noriuma in the Suruga Province. One day, he discovered a tiny girl inside a stalk of bamboo and took her home, where he and his wife lovingly raised her. The girl grew up to become the most beautiful young woman in the country. She always emitted a very nice aroma and divine rays from her body. Because the rays even made night as bright as day, people called her Princess Kaguya, which means shining princess.
When Princess Kaguya was 16, a public servant stayed overnight at their home. He was astonished by the beautiful and radiating Princess Kaguya, and returned to the capital to report she would be fitting as the Empress.
However Princess Kaguya told the old man and woman, "I cannot become Empress. I intend to enter a cave in Mt. Fuji," and told them to visit the cave whenever they wanted to see her.
Upon arriving at the summit of Mt. Fuji, Princess Kaguya entered a cave in a large rock near Shakagatake. Princess Kaguya was actually a god of Mt. Fuji. She took the form of the goddess Sengen Daibosatsu to save the people and had emerged in the village of Noriuma.
The Emperor who wished to marry Princess Kaguya came to Suruga Province and was led by the old man to climb Mt. Fuji. He was able to meet Princess Kaguya at the summit and the two disappeared into the cave of Mt. Fuji.
[Original Source] Fujisan Daiengi (Great History of Mt. Fuji) scroll (Material formerly stored by Rokushoke, now stored at Mt. Fuji and Princess Kaguya Museum)

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Mt. Fuji and Literature Multi-monitor

The beauty of Mt. Fuji presents various faces that change season by season. The mountain has charmed many people from ancient times to today, and has given birth to various artworks, such as paintings, literature, and the performing arts. Here "The Beautiful Mountain - Mt. Fuji" is expressed on a large screen made up of 5 monitors, which display images with poetry and passages from novels that float against the backdrop of Mt. Fuji through the four seasons.

Mount Fuji as a Source of Beauty
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What does it mean for the Mt. Fuji World Cultural Heritage to be a “source of artistic inspiration”?
Here we introduce literature, paintings, performing arts and crafts that highlight Mt. Fuji as well as the impact it has made on art outside of Japan in order to understand Mt. Fuji as a source of beauty.

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Mount Fuji Literature Encyclopedia
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Mt. Fuji is a beautiful, mysterious, and sometimes wild mountain which has stimulated a wealth of literature since ancient times. Here we introduce the appeal of Mt. Fuji literature, under the four headings of Mt. Fuji Poems, Mt. Fuji Tales, Mt. Fuji Performing Arts, and Mt. Fuji in Modern and Contemporary Literature.

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Legends and Mount Fuji
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Since ancient times, people have sensed an enigmatic power in Mt. Fuji and have passed down various stories about the mountain. Here we will examine legends about Mt. Fuji and the names of the mountain under two headings: ‘Mt. Fuji: A Stage for Legends’ and ‘The Name Fuji’

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Mt. Fuji as Seen from Overseas
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Mt. Fuji has even made a strong impact overseas as a ‘source of artistic inspiration’. Here we look at how the language and visual images of Mt. Fuji have been embraced by people outside Japan.

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Evolution of Form and Meaning in Mt. Fuji Paintings
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The image of Mt. Fuji is recognized worldwide as symbolic of Japan. Here, after identifying some of the characteristic themes and compositions of paintings of Mt. Fuji, we will trace their evolution and discuss the meanings inherent in various portrayals of the mountain.

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Mount Fuji in Art
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The Tokugawa period was a time when Mt. Fuji painting was established as a genre and evolved in various ways. In this section you can view 150 masterpieces that were carefully selected from drawings of Mt. Fuji from this period. The paintings shown are from a wide range of locations overseas as well as in Japan, and you can gain an overview of each school of painting. Representative works of ar....
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The Tokugawa period was a time when Mt. Fuji painting was established as a genre and evolved in various ways. In this section you can view 150 masterpieces that were carefully selected from drawings of Mt. Fuji from this period. The paintings shown are from a wide range of locations overseas as well as in Japan, and you can gain an overview of each school of painting. Representative works of art are shown at their actual size, so you can appreciate them as if you were standing in front of the actual work. Enjoy the beauty of Mt. Fuji paintings!

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Mount Fuji in Dance
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Mount Fuji is also an important motif in the world of classical Japanese performing arts. Here we focus on Mt. Fuji, as it is expressed in UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Noh theatre, and introduce the world of Noh which is composed of legends, stories and dance using three plays: Fujisan, Ikenie and Hagoromo.

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