Mount Fuji
Currently there are 14 World Heritage sites located in Japan. Of course, 11 are cultural properties and 3 are national properties. If you were a representative of Japan, what would you nominate as the next World Heritage site and why?
Mount Fuji or, “Fuji-san” is Japan’s highest summit- rising to 3,776 metres above sea level. Though it has already been denied the title of becoming a World Heritage site once before, there is still strong support from the Japanese population that it should be considered as such. Besides being able to meet several of the criteria for selection, the way in which Fuji continues to attract national and international attention is paramount to its suitability in becoming a World Heritage site.
Fuji’s impact on Japan’s artistic heritage has been profound, inspiring countless poets and artists, even around the world. The oldest work depicting the mountain dates as far back as the 11th century and it is clear how Mt Fuji is rooted to its country and to its people. Fuji appears quite often in a range of different artworks due to its rather large reputation as being widely admired and sometimes revered as being an embodiment of beauty itself. An example of acclaimed art featuring Fuji is Kanagawa-oki Nami-ura (“Fuji Behind the Waves Off Kanagawa”) by Katsushika Hokusai and it is the best known of Hokusai’s already renowned “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” ukiyo-e prints. The way that Fuji is continually being made subject for painters and photographers alike make it apparent that it still holds its place as one of the most picturesque and striking views that can be experienced in Japan.
As well as being a well recognised representation of Japanese culture, Fuji-san is not only considered as an amazing natural landscape but also as a spiritual site. It has, countless times, been referred to as a “sacred mountain”. To followers of the Shinto religion (one of the most highly dominant religions in Japan), Mt. Fuji is the embodiment of the very
Mount Fuji or, “Fuji-san” is Japan’s highest summit- rising to 3,776 metres above sea level. Though it has already been denied the title of becoming a World Heritage site once before, there is still strong support from the Japanese population that it should be considered as such. Besides being able to meet several of the criteria for selection, the way in which Fuji continues to attract national and international attention is paramount to its suitability in becoming a World Heritage site.
Fuji’s impact on Japan’s artistic heritage has been profound, inspiring countless poets and artists, even around the world. The oldest work depicting the mountain dates as far back as the 11th century and it is clear how Mt Fuji is rooted to its country and to its people. Fuji appears quite often in a range of different artworks due to its rather large reputation as being widely admired and sometimes revered as being an embodiment of beauty itself. An example of acclaimed art featuring Fuji is Kanagawa-oki Nami-ura (“Fuji Behind the Waves Off Kanagawa”) by Katsushika Hokusai and it is the best known of Hokusai’s already renowned “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” ukiyo-e prints. The way that Fuji is continually being made subject for painters and photographers alike make it apparent that it still holds its place as one of the most picturesque and striking views that can be experienced in Japan.
As well as being a well recognised representation of Japanese culture, Fuji-san is not only considered as an amazing natural landscape but also as a spiritual site. It has, countless times, been referred to as a “sacred mountain”. To followers of the Shinto religion (one of the most highly dominant religions in Japan), Mt. Fuji is the embodiment of the very