![]() ![]() The mountain also became the focus of Shintoism and Buddhism very early on with the mountain being given the Shinto name, Konohana no Sayuka Hime, and the Buddhist name, Sengen Daibosatsu, the Great Boddhisattva of Sengen. Therefore, this early re-deification of Mount Fuji was connected to its raw natural power. By 805 AD, locals had deified the entire mountain by giving Mount Fuji the name Asama (or Sengen) Daimyōjin, which means the mountain that spouts fire. In the 8th and 9th centuries, a series of eruptions of Mount Fuji led people to believe that the mountain was the personification of the spirt of the god Kami. Both Shinto and Buddhism see Mount Fuji as a place of sacred importance. The sacredness of the mountain was revived due to volcanic activity in the 8th and 9th centuries and has carried forward today in the form of a localized form of hybrid Buddhism called Shugendō. In fact, the name Fuji most likely comes from the Ainu god of fire, Fuchi. In fact, its connection to the gods can be traced back to the Ainu people, the indigenous inhabitants of ancient Japan. Figure 3: Dai Nihon Fujisan Zetcho no zuįor many centuries, Mount Fuji has been considered a sacred natural wonder. To highlight this particular pilgrimage practice, the map shows pilgrims walking around the rim of the cauldron. ![]() The intended audience of this map is the same as Fujisan no zu, as this map’s main focus is the summit of Mount Fuji and the popular pilgrimage practice of circumnavigating the cauldron of Mount Fuji. However, despite the differences in form and focus of the two maps, the maps share a focus on the sacredness of Mount Fuji with a specific focus on pilgrimages. Its focus is the crater of Mount Fuji, so this map provides great detail about both the topography of Mount Fuji’s summit, and the various places of interest around the summit, including the eight peaks that have been likened to the eight petals of a lotus flower. Just as with Fujisan no zu, this map is marked with many important religious features, including pilgrimage routes, figures of Buddha and other places of religious significance. The map is quite large and actually consists of three different maps that can be joined together to form one large map depicting the crater at the summit of Mount Fuji. Figure 1: Fujisan no zu Figure 2: Fujisan no zuĭai Nihon Fujisan Zetcho no zu means a ‘Map of the summit of Mount Fuji.’ This map was created by Utagawa Sadahide in 1857, which was also during the Edo period. Thus, the main audience for this map is pilgrims and the pilgrimage organizations, which are called fujiko. It can almost be seen as a guide for pilgrim sightseers. The main reason the map was created was to facilitate the journey of pilgrims. A unique feature of this map is that it can be turned into a three-dimensional representation of Mount Fuji. The map also has pictures of two ascetics, the father of the Mount Fuji cult, and his successor The map also shows the official Murayama Shugendo pilgrimage route however, it also shows alternative routes that emerged after Murayama Shugendo lost control to the loosely organized Fuji-ko cult. The sacred sites that can be found on the map include the shrines, temples, statues, monuments and mediation caves, which are very important for the Shugendō tradition of mountain asceticism. The focus of the map is sacred sites and pilgrimage routes on Mount Fuji. ![]() These maps are Fujisan no zu( 富士山之圖 ) and Dai Nihon Fujisan Zetcho no zu ( 大日本富士山絶頂之圖 ), both of which highlight the religiosity of the mountain, while being quite different in form.įujisan no zu was created in 1848 during the Edo period by Sawaguchi Seio. This investigation will compare and contrast two maps of Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji has been a sacred place and a focus of ascetic pursuits, and pilgrimages, as well as muse for poetic and other artistic endeavours, so many maps of the mountain have been created. Its iconic cone shape makes it one of the most recognizable mountains and active volcanoes in the world. Mount Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan reaching an impressive 3,776 meters above sea level. ![]()
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