富士山。
その山容の美しさから、日本一の山と讃えられてきた。
しかし、その一方で、古来より噴火の猛威をふるう火山として恐れられてきた。
噴火と地震による甚大な被害は過去何度も起こっている。
度々繰り返される噴火を鎮めるために、浅間大神を祀ったのが、「浅間信仰」の始まりとされる。
有史以来、さまざまな災害を経験してきた人類だが、この自然の猛威に対して、なす術はない。
Mt. Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan.
With its perfect conic shape, standing independently from other line of mountains, it deserves to be called the most beautiful mountain in Japan.
To one's surprise, the beautiful conic shape was formed after repeated eruptions, and it is indeed an active volcano.
The Asama belief in worshipping Mt. Fuji from afar to appease the wrath of its eruptions arose at the beginning of the Heian period. By at the end of the Heian, these beliefs included climbing Mt. Fuji for ascetic practices.
Mt. Fuji continues its erosion and rebuilding, while people admire the beauty of the mountain today. We should not forget, however, that the shape of the beautiful Mt. Fuji is just a phase of the continually changing flux of nature.
Volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunami are natural disasters that destroy lives and property and leave us human at the mercy of nature.