Mount Fuji at sunrise, Lake Kawaguchi, Japan
Mount Fuji at sunrise, Lake Kawaguchi, Japan (© Twenty47studio/Getty Images)
Wind of Fuji, my souvenir from Edo
Around 60 miles southwest of Tokyo stands one of Japan's cultural icons: Mount Fuji. The country's tallest mountain rises 12,000 feet above the surrounding landscape, with its near-symmetrical cone covered in snow for nearly five months each year. For centuries, Fujisan—as it is known in Japanese—has been worshiped as a sacred mountain. In the Shinto faith, Fuji is deified as Asama no Okami, and shrines dedicated to it are built within sight of the mountain.
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