The name of Mt. Fuji has been written in various ways since ancient times.
The most common is "Fujisan". This means incomparable, unique high mountain.
When it is expressed as "Fujisan", it seems to mean that the peak of the mountain is never free from snow throughout the year, however, as you know, there is no snow on the peak in summer. Maybe its gigantic size was intended to be described as "never running out". It is famous from the song in Man'yoshu "Arriving at a good view point through Tagonoura, there is Mt. Fuji covered white with snow." by Yamabeno Akahito.
"Fujisan" (immortal mountain) came from legends of perennial youth and immortality such as "The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter".
Some say that the pronunciation of the happy name of "Fukujusan" (fukujusan=happy mountain) gradually evolved into Fujisan
The present way of writing "Fujisan" means the mountain of warriors, and this has been used since the Kamakura Shogunate when Bushido (Japanese knighthood) was developed.
Apart from the above mentioned explanations, there are some other theories for the origin of its name such as "Funchi" in the Ainu language (Fire god or volcano) or "Fuji" in Malay (meaning wonderful).
The reasons for using "Fuyou" to describe Mt. Fuji seems to come from the shape of the crater at the peak.
Back
Home
©RangaShyam, 2003