# Mount Fuji — the top of Japan belongs to a shrine Canonical: https://sockmonkey.com/places/mount-fuji (this is a plain-text copy of that page) Source: https://sockmonkey.com/places/mount-fuji Publisher: SockMonkey.com (https://sockmonkey.com) Part of: The Field Guide - https://sockmonkey.com/places/ Cite as: SockMonkey.com - sockmonkey.com Last reviewed: 25 October 2026 - **Where:** Border of Shizuoka and Yamanashi, central Honshu, Japan - **Coordinates:** 35.3606° N, 138.7274° E - **Height:** 3,776 m;, the highest mountain in Japan - **Last eruption:** Hoei eruption, from 16 December 1707 - **Summit:** Shrine land above the 8th station;, prefectural border undetermined - **Status:** UNESCO World Heritage, 2013, as a cultural site - **Best visited:** Climbing: July to 10 September;, views: clear cold mornings ## The short answer Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano 3,776 metres high, the highest mountain in Japan, on the border of Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures in central Honshu. It last erupted in 1707. UNESCO inscribed it in 2013 not as a natural site but as a cultural one, “Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration”, with 25 component sites: the upper 1,500 metres of the mountain with its pilgrim routes and crater shrines, and shrines, pilgrim lodging houses, lakes, springs and lava formations around its foot. Above the eighth climbing station the mountain is the precinct of Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha, the head of about 1,300 Sengen shrines in Japan. In 2026 the official climbing site gave a season from 1 July on the Yoshida and Subashiri trails and from 10 July on the Fujinomiya and Gotemba trails, to 10 September, and a hiking fee of 4,000 yen on every trail. ## Why it's worth knowing The most famous national symbol in Japan has a summit that is, legally, a shrine’s land. The shrine’s claim is old. Shizuoka Prefecture’s cultural-heritage guide records that the Edo shogunate recognised the shrine’s authority over the mountain above the eighth station in a ruling of 1779; Nippon.com credits Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose donation built the shrine’s main hall in 1604, with declaring the land the shrine’s. After the Meiji Restoration the upper mountain passed into state ownership. The shrine went to law to get it back, and in 1974 Japan’s Supreme Court ruled in its favour. The handover took another thirty years: in 2004 the state transferred the land above the eighth station to the shrine, apart from land it keeps. One result is administrative. Shizuoka Prefecture’s guide states that the boundary between Shizuoka and Yamanashi above the eighth station has not been determined to this day. The highest point in Japan is shrine property, and which prefecture it lies in has never been settled. None of this is a curiosity to the people who worship there. UNESCO’s description of the site is built around worship: pilgrims climbing the mountain hoping to be imbued with the spiritual power of the gods and buddhas believed to reside on it, and confraternities of pilgrims, the Fuji-ko, organising those climbs. ## The field notes ### The shrine at the top and the shrine at the foot Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha stands in the city of Fujinomiya on the Shizuoka side, and its grounds include the entire top of the mountain from the eighth station upwards. Its main hall was built in 1604 with a donation from Tokugawa Ieyasu, in the two-storeyed style named for the Sengen shrines. The mountain’s deity is worshipped at shrines all around its base, including Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen-jinja on the Yamanashi side, where the old Yoshida route begins. ### Worship, and who was allowed up For centuries the ascent was a religious act. UNESCO describes worship-ascents of the peak and pilgrimages to sacred sites around its lower slopes, with lodging houses run by pilgrim guides at the foot. The summit was long held too sacred for women. A Grand Council of State edict of 4 May 1872 ordered an end to the exclusion of women from shrine and temple lands. ### The last eruption Mount Fuji is classified as an active volcano, and the Japan Meteorological Agency publishes its volcanic alert level. Its last eruption, the Hoei eruption, began on 16 December 1707. It ended early in 1708. By the eruption article’s account it sent ash as far as Edo, now Tokyo, almost 100 kilometres away, and the area where it broke out on the south-eastern flank is called Mount Hoei. Climbers are asked to check the alert level before they go. ### A stick for the climb Climbers can buy a wooden walking stick, the kongō-zue, for the ascent and have it marked at the mountain huts on the way up. The Yamanashi Tourism Organization says the sticks are sold at the Fifth Station, where most climbs begin, and that each mountain hut on the trail will brand its mark into one for a fee; it calls the custom popular with visitors from abroad. By the top, a stick carries the route in marks, hut by hut. **A relic from Mount Fuji** A marked walking stick. A plain length of wood bought for the ascent and carried up the mountain, marked at hut after hut on the way, so that by the summit it records the climb. Nothing about it is rare; thousands go up every season. It is the one thing on the mountain that is plainly yours, and at the top it stands on land that belongs to a shrine. ## Getting there How to get there. Four main trails, the Yoshida on the Yamanashi side and the Subashiri, Gotemba and Fujinomiya on the Shizuoka side, start from fifth stations reached by car or bus. The summit is the tenth station on each trail. Rules for 2026. The official climbing site, fujisan-climb.jp, gave the 2026 season as 1 July to 10 September on the Yoshida and Subashiri trails and 10 July to 10 September on the Fujinomiya and Gotemba trails. Its rules for every trail: a hiking fee of 4,000 yen, and no entry from 14:00 to 03:00 the next morning except for climbers staying at a mountain hut. On the Yoshida Trail a gate at the fifth station enforces the hours. On the three Shizuoka trails climbers complete the entry steps, including a short course on the rules, in the prefecture’s FUJI NAVI app or on site, and receive a wristband. The same site carries the current rules and separate guidance for outside the season. How to climb it. Many people climb in the afternoon or evening, rest in a hut, and go on in the dark to reach the top for sunrise; the huts are the place to do it, and they should be booked ahead. It is cold at the summit even in August, and the weather changes fast. Seeing it without climbing. The lakes on the Yamanashi side and many other places around the mountain give the classic views. The cone is often in cloud, and the clearest views tend to come on cold, still mornings. At the summit. The crater and its shrine buildings are a place of worship. Behave as you would at any shrine. ## The national park The parkFuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to sacred Mt. Fuji.Source: Ministry of the Environment, Japan (Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park) · read 5 November 2026 In numbersAbout 1,220 square kilometres of land.Source: Ministry of the Environment, Japan (Overview of National Parks) · read 5 November 2026 Established1 February 1936.Source: Ministry of the Environment, Japan (Overview of National Parks) · read 5 November 2026 All 41 national parks → ## Common questions #### Who owns the summit of Mount Fuji? Mount Fuji above the eighth climbing station, apart from land the state keeps, belongs to Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha, the Shinto shrine in Fujinomiya. According to Shizuoka Prefecture, the land passed to the state after the Meiji Restoration, Japan’s Supreme Court ruled for the shrine in 1974, and the land was transferred back to it in 2004. #### Is the summit of Mount Fuji in Shizuoka or Yamanashi? Neither, officially. Shizuoka Prefecture’s own guide states that the boundary between Shizuoka and Yamanashi above the eighth station of Mount Fuji has not been determined. That area, apart from land the state keeps, is the precinct of the Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha shrine. #### Why is Mount Fuji a World Heritage Site? UNESCO inscribed Mount Fuji in 2013 as a cultural site, “Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration”, with 25 component sites, including the upper 1,500 metres with its pilgrim routes and crater shrines, and shrines, pilgrim lodging houses, lakes and springs around the base. UNESCO recognised Mount Fuji as an object of pilgrimage and a source for poets and artists. #### When can you climb Mount Fuji? The official Mount Fuji climbing season in 2026 ran from 1 July on the Yoshida and Subashiri trails and from 10 July on the Fujinomiya and Gotemba trails, to 10 September, according to the official climbing site. Every climber pays a 4,000-yen fee, and no one may start up between 14:00 and 03:00 without a mountain-hut stay. On the three Shizuoka trails climbers register through the FUJI NAVI app or on site. #### When did Mount Fuji last erupt? Mount Fuji last erupted in the Hoei eruption, which began on 16 December 1707. Wikipedia’s article on the mountain ends it about 1 January 1708; its article on the eruption, citing the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program, gives 24 February 1708. The ash reached Edo, now Tokyo. Mount Fuji is classified as an active volcano, and the Japan Meteorological Agency publishes its alert level. #### Were women allowed to climb Mount Fuji? Not for much of its history. The summit of Mount Fuji was held sacred and closed to women, according to Wikipedia, until a Grand Council of State edict of 4 May 1872 ordered an end to the exclusion of women from shrine and temple lands. Women now climb Mount Fuji on the same terms as men. #### How high is Mount Fuji? Mount Fuji is 3,776 metres high, the highest mountain in Japan. UNESCO describes it as a solitary stratovolcano, and its upper 1,500 metres, with the pilgrim routes and crater shrines, form part of the World Heritage property inscribed in 2013. Wikipedia records eight peaks around the summit crater. #### What are the walking sticks sold on Mount Fuji? Climbers on Mount Fuji can buy a wooden walking stick, the kongō-zue, at the Fifth Station and have it branded, for a fee, at each mountain hut on the way up, the Yamanashi Tourism Organization says. The finished stick carries a record of the climb, hut by hut. Elevations: the Altitude page ## Related places Fushimi Inari Taishaalso in Sacred & ancient places · about 270 km away Tongariroalso in Volcanoes · both tagged volcano Aogashimaalso in Volcanoes · about 340 km away Jigokudani Monkey Parkabout 150 km away · same region Shirakawa-goabout 190 km away · same region ## Sources and notes Written and checked by SockMonkey.com · last reviewed 25 October 2026 - UNESCO - The Smithsonian - The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program - Background: Wikipedia - Travel advisory: the US State Department