On the Etymology of the Name of Mt. Fuji

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On the Etymology of the Name of Mt. Fuji

Alexander Vovin

Mt. Fuji (Fujisan, 富士山), the highest mountain in Japan (3,776 m.), straddles the border of modern Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures, but in Ancient Japan it belonged to Suruga province (駿河國), which corresponds to the central part of present-day Shizuoka prefecture. This majestically beautiful mountain, which is a perfectly shaped conical volcano, has become a symbol of modern Japan.

Mt. Fuji as seen from Hakone
author’s photo (may 27, 2012)

Nowadays we know many things about Mt. Fuji, such as the history of its worship as the body of a Shintō deity, its historical eruptions, its vegetation and natural habitat, the history of its climbing, etc. For the purposes of this article, the most important information is that Mt. Fuji is nowadays a dormant volcano (MdJ kyūkazan 休火山). The last historically recorded eruption occurred in 1707 AD, but before this date, it was quite active. The first historically attested eruption was...