The Evolution of Japanese Perceptions of Mount Fuji and Modern Perceptions of Mount Fuji

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  • 日本人の富士山観の変遷と現代の富士山観
  • ニホンジン ノ フジサンカン ノ ヘンセン ト ゲンダイ ノ フジサンカン

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 This study clarifies contemporary perceptions of Mount Fuji on the basis of the sensibilities of the Japanese people, who are influenced greatly by subjective and sentimental ways of viewing landscapes. Over the course of history, the way in which the Japanese have perceived Mount Fuji has changed due to experiences in each successive era, whether these have been natural disasters that accompanied eruptions, the shifting vista of Mount Fuji as seen from moving political capitals, or the development of mountain-climbing routes; in other words, reflecting of subjective factors such as individuals' perceptions of nature and culture within the context of such experiences. This study is a quantitative analysis based on a questionnaire survey of contemporary Japanese perceptions of Mount Fuji following its registration on the UNESCO World Heritage List. From the results of the analysis, when considering the way Mount Fuji is perceived from the Japanese sense of landscape, a comparison with ways Mount Fuji was perceived in the past indicates the following: while some aspects of contemporary perception of Mount Fuji have been inherited from a past that reflects underlying Japanese views of nature and culture, there are also newer aspects that have originated from a more recent overall national experience of the movement for World Heritage registration and the social background revealed in media coverage following registration. However, no significant differences are found as to whether individual respondents' had ever climbed to the summit or lived in a region where Mount Fuji is visible. This appears to be a result of increased exposure to various of information on Mount Fuji in the mass media, which have provided supplementary information to citizens living far away or who have no personal experience of Mount Fuji. This can be said to have formed a unified national view of Mount Fuji.

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