History and present day reality of climbing Mount Fuji.

1. To climb or not to climb?

2. Konohana Sakuya

3. Hokusai’s print

4. Female deity

5. Chaos?

6. Please don’t do this, Goddess!

7. Or order?

8. Calm and serene

9. Hokusai’s print

10. The largest Sengenjinja

11. Fujinomiya Sengenjinja

12. The main kami

13. Built at a special spot

14. Where lava stopped

15. And where there is a spring

16. Fire and water

17. Chaos and control

18. Chaos and control

19. Daughter of the ruler of mountains

20. Not harmed by fire

21. Long history of deities

22. Sun goddess Amaterasu

23. In mythology AND Shinto religion

24. Goddess of the Sun and the universe

25. Emperors are directly descended?!

26. Oyamatsumi (Oyamazumi)

27. Mountain God

28. Rules mountains, sea, and war

29. Father of Sakuyahime

30. Eldest brother of Amaterasu

31. 大山祇神社

32. In Ehime Prefecture

33. Protection of soldiers and sailors

34. Fire and water

35. Fuji as a religious symbol in ancient
Japan

36. The power of fire and water

37. A sacred mountain

38. Holy and powerful

39. Translates to art

40. 万葉集

41. まんようしゅう

42. 10,000 leaves

43. Oldest collection of Japanese poetry

44. Around 759 AD

45. 万葉集
• Since that ancient time
• When heaven and earth were sundered
• Like a god soaring
• In high towering majesty
• Over Suruga
• Has stood Fuji’s lofty peak

46. Suruga – old Shizuoka

47. 万葉集
• I came out and looked afar –
• To see the pure white
• Of Mount Fuji’s lofty peak
• Amidst a flurry of snow.

48. 万葉集
• Two ways of thinking about the mountain
• As a deity to be worshipped
• As a beautiful object to be appreciated

49. 万葉集
• Fuji:
• Not really for climbing

50. Mount Tsukuba

51. Mount Tsukuba legend

52. Thousands of years ago …

53. … a deity asked for shelter on earth

54. Mount Fuji refused!

55. Mount Tsukuba accepted

56. Now Mount Fuji is barren

57. Mount Tsukuba is bursting with life

58. 万葉集
• Mount Fuji is viewed from a distance
• Probably from below
• Mount Tsukuba is climbed and people have
fun

59. Symbolizes timelessness

60. A place for the gods, not humans

61. Smoke: uncertainty

62. Smoke: human passion

63. Sacred: volcanic destruction

64. Sacred: beneficial water

65. Symbolic: unchanging and divine

66. Unchanging!?

67. Human passion
• I will look upon
• Mount Fuji in Suruga
• As another self
• For deep within each of us
• Hidden fires forever burn
• Passion burning forever
• Endlessly changing
• Endlessly the same

68. • As the deathless fire
• Smolders inside Mount Fuji
• So burns my passion
• Unaltered by occasions
• Of seeing and not seeing.

69. Burning passion, desire

70. 10th century poetry
• My love for you,
• Like the smoke that rises
• From Mount Fuji
• Is eternal

71. Later poetry

72. Buddhist influences

73. Chinese influences

74. Remember Shotoku Taishi

75. Ideal Chinese mountain

76. Spiritual practices

77. Ascetic practices

78. Enlightenment

79. Separation – isolation

80. Leaving the world

81. Give up comfortable life

82. 西行

83. さいぎょう

84. 12th century poet

85. Pilgrimage and meditation

86. Mountains: necessary for solitude

87. Mountains: not part of the ordinary
world

88. Saigyo:
• What a wretched world
• This would be if this despised
• Quickly passing world
• Had no places to hide away –
• That is, no mountains in it

89. Saigyo:
• The wisps of smoke from Fuji
• Yield to the wind and lose themselves
• In sky, in emptiness –
• Which takes as well the aimless passions
• That through my life burned deep inside.

90. Passions are now just an illusion?

91. Fuji
• Natural beauty
• Burning passions
• Meditation

92. How about pictures?

93. Different levels

94. Supernatural

95. Transcendence

96. Idealised: 3 domes or peaks

97. ？

100. What do you notice when you climb
Mount Fuji?

101. You can’t see Mount Fuji!

102. Should you climb it?
• Simple answer
• No
• Why?
• It’s unpleasant
• It’s boring
• It’s hard
• It could be dangerous
• It’s bad for the environment

103. So that’s my answer
• However,
• People will continue to climb it
• And I’ve climbed it 3 times!
• So why listen to me?!

104. World Heritage Site

105. World Heritage List: June 2013

106. Cultural rather than natural

107. Cultural – why not natural?

108. It’s beautiful – why not a natural
heritage site?

109. People visit because it’s beautiful!!

110. Object of worship

111. Well-spring of art

112. Of course it’s a natural beauty

113. Are UNESCO crazy?

114. • Why is CULTURAL OK?
• Why is ARTISTIC OK?
• But NATURAL is NOT OK?

115. Let’s say YOU start climbing from
HERE!

116. The most naturally beautiful university
in the world!

117. In the universe!

118. Wildlife

119. World famous!!

120. Must be a natural heritage site!

122. Walk to Fujiyoshida

123. Natural beauty

124. A Sengen Shrine in Fujiyoshida

125. The main Sengen Shrine in Fujiyoshida

126. Keep walking up the mountain

127. Pines Park – natural beauty!

128. Keep going up the mountain

129. 中の茶屋

130. Natural beauty

131. NHK took of the blossoms

132. Of course it’s beautiful

133. This is where you send your horse back

134. Of course it’s beautiful

135. You don’t need a horse

136. How far have we come?

137. First Station

138. Nice

139. Natural beauty

140. UNESCO are crazy!

141. Are they complaining about the road?

142. Natural beauty

143. Keep walking

144. Lots of lovely plants

145. Lovely nature

146. The second stage

147. Still nice

149. Nice walk in the countryside

150. Still looking good

151. Nice country walk

152. The Fourth Station

153. UNESCO are crazy

154. Keep walking up

155. Nice country …?!

156. What is happening?

157. Of course, most people drive to the
Fifth Station

158. Sometimes with a little garbage in the
car

159. That’s not very nice

161. I thought Japanese people always
picked up trash

162. Well, some of them do

163. They need help

164. But – higher up – it’s not very exciting
anyway

165. Queues to climb volcanic rock

166. Scoria

167. Not pumice

168. Gas bubbles

169. Gas bubbles formed in magma

170. Scoria is igneous rock

171. Igneous
• 1660 from Latin – igneus (fiery)
• Ignite – set fire to something

173. Also known as lava rock

174. Bubbly

175. Magma (underground)

176. Lava (when it comes out)

177. Fujiyoshida is built on old lava flows

178. Anyway, let’s say you get to the top

179. And the mountain doesn’t erupt

180. Hopefully you get a good view down

181. Nice view on a clear day

182. What can go wrong?
• Be careful climbing (sprains and other injuries)
• Wear comfortable shoes
• Heavy climbing shoes may cause blisters
• Carry some bandaids

183. Wear sturdy, comfortable shoes

184. Heavy hiking boots may be too much

185. Probably not

186. No

187. New boots? Probably not

188. Blister

189. Very nasty

190. What can go wrong?
• It gets cold quick
• 0.6 degrees C for every 100 meters
• It can be incredibly cold at the top
• You have to carry warm clothing
• You can get very tired
• Lack of oxygen

191. More than one route down!

192. • Say you climb from Fujiyoshida
• You get to the top
• You’re cold
• You’re tired
• You want to get down quick
• You take the wrong path down!
• You end up in Subashiri in Shizuoka!!

193. Be careful!

194. Ask for directions if you’re not sure!

196. Best climbing gear

197. Notice the shoes – not heavy-duty

198. Carrying a Pilgrim’s Staff

199. Pilgrim’s straw hat

200. How about these?

201. More comfortable?

203. English?

204. 蓑

205. emoji