Hey everyone, welcome to World Heritage Journey.
Today, we're at Mount Fuji, in Japan.
So, just over my shoulder behind this shrine building, stands the incredible Mount Fuji.
At 3776 metres it's the tallest mountain
in Japan and by
far the most revered as well.
It's a very impressive sight; or at least it would be if we could see it - it's very
cloudy today and it's completely invisible.
On a clear day you can see it from Tokyo, 150km away, but on a day like today you can't
even see it from the base, which is a bit of a shame but not something we can control.
But luckily for us, Fuji is actually on the World Heritage list not because of it's outstanding
beauty, though that certainly plays a part, it's actually because of the revered position
it's had in Japanese society and culture for several thousand years.
Let's check it out.
Mount Fuji is one of the genuine icons of Japan.
It even has its own emoji, and not many World Heritage Sites can say that!
As an active volcano, it's been worshipped and revered since time immemorial.
There are shrines and pilgrimage trails running from the ocean shore right up to the summit
that have been used for thousands of years.
The shrine that we've just been exploring, Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine, is the
headquarters of shrines around Japan that worship Fuji as a deity named Princess of
Blossoms, and there's hundreds of cherry trees here dedicated to her.
It's also incredible to think of the amazing art that Fuji has inspired over the years.
I'm sure we've all seen Hokusai's beautiful woodblock painting series Thirty-six Views
of Mount Fuji, which includes the iconic Great Wave off Kanagawa image.
We also discovered that the oldest known collection of Japanese poetry, the 8th-century Man-yoshu,
mentions Mount Fuji:
Fantastic stuff.
So this is the start of one of the many pilgrimage
trails that runs right up to the summit of Mt Fuji, and it starts down here in the forest.
Over the course of several days you climb up through the forest into barren scrublands
and then eventually into volcanic desolation before finally reaching the top.
And it looks absolutely sensational as a hike to do, and a lot of people do it, though unfortunately
for us it's way too late in the year and there'd be an awful lot of snow up there now.
But that's it from me, thank you so much for watching.
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I'll see you next time.