MT FUJI

Fuji is the highest mountain (3,776m) and the symbol of Japan. The last big eruption in 1707 covered the sky of Edo with ashes and people needed candlelight even during the daytime.

The goddess of Fuji-san is beautiful Konohana Sakuyahime. Women were prohibited from climbing the holy mountain – not to wake up the jealousy of the goddess. The Japanese proverb says that, if you never climb Fuji, you are a fool, and if you climb it more than once, you are a crazy fool.

The name Konohana Sakuyahime (tree-flower-blooms-princess) refers to the short-lived beauty of the cherry blossom. In contrast, Konohana's older sister was ugly but long-lived Iwanagahime (rock-long-princess). In later years, however, Iwanagahime came to be revered as a tutelary of longevity.

When Konohana Sakuyahime became pregnant in a single night her husband, the heavenly kami Ninigi, suspected that the child was actually the offspring of an earthly kami. Enraged at Ninigi's accusation, Sakuyahime entered a parturition hut, setting fire to it with the vow that the child should not be injured if it were truly the offspring of the heavenly kami Ninigi. Inside the hut, Sakuyahime gave birth to three kami and they were not injured in the fire. Ninigi admitted that he had believed her from the beginning, but deliberately angered her in order to demonstrate to the people that the children were indeed offspring of a heavenly kami.