Mountain Day

Yama-no-hi

​Today is Mountain Day in Japan!
 
This decade long national holiday is time set aside to familiarize people with the mountains as natural sanctuaries of peace and to appreciate their blessings.
 
Approximately fifteen thousand mountains comprise the Japanese archipelago.
 
Have you ever been to Japan? 
 
Mountains have long been places of meditation and worship by Shintoists in Japan since the seventh century.  Followers of Shintoism believe that supernatural powers, God, or gods resides or descends from the mountains. Mountain gods are also often linked to Sea gods who are trusted by sailors for navigation.
 
Part of the mountain meditation is to ponder the blessings of water sources, mines, forests, hunting grounds, and reverence for the majestic appearance.
 
Japan has three holy mountains: Mt. Tate, Mt. Haku and the famed volcano, Mt. Fuji. A perfectly symmetrical volcanic cone, Mount Fuji, Japan’s tallest and most famous mountain, at 12,389 feet high, is an active stratovolcano in the Ring of Fire. It sits about 60 mi south-west of Tokyo, and 75-miles west of Kamakura can be seen from the beach on a clear day.
 
Mount Fuji has inspired famous artists and poets. This volcano is a national symbol immortalized in countless works of art, including Hokusai's 36 Views of Mt. Fuji, a series of landscape prints (1760–1849) depicting Mount Fuji from different locations and in various seasons and weather conditions.

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