A panoramic history of Japan's iconic mountain from the Ice Age to the present
Mount Fuji is everywhere recognized as a wonder of nature and enduring symbol of Japan. Yet behind the picture-postcard image is a history filled with conflict and upheaval. Violent eruptions across the centuries wrought havoc and instilled fear. Long an object of worship, Fuji has been inhabited by deities that changed radically over time. It has been both a totem of national unity and a flashpoint for economic and political disputes. And while its soaring majesty has inspired countless works of literature and art, the foot of the mountain is home to military training grounds and polluting industries. Tracing the history of Fuji from its geological origins in the remote past to its recent inscription as a World Heritage Site, Andrew Bernstein explores these and other contradictions in the story of the mountain, inviting us to reflect on the relationships we share with the nonhuman world and one another.
Beautifully illustrated, Fuji presents a rich portrait of one of the world's most celebrated sites, revealing a mountain forever in the making and offering a meditation on the ability of landscape both to challenge and inspire. Andrew W. Bernstein is professor of history at Lewis & Clark College and the author of Modern Passings: Death Rites, Politics, and Social Change in Imperial Japan. "A historical tour de force, this biography of Japan's most famous mountain begins in distant geological times, moves across centuries of change in religious, economic, military, ideological, and environmental factors, and ends its admirably transdisciplinary account at the edge of the future. Kaleidoscopic, informative, beguiling, its essay-like chapters are also a pleasure to read."-Carol Gluck, author of Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period
"Can a mountain dance through time? Bernstein's marvelous book shows us that it can. He turns the age-old icon of Fuji into a vibrant participant in Japan's long history."-Julia Adeney Thomas, coauthor of The Anthropocene: A Multidisciplinary Approach
"This lavishly illustrated, multifaceted survey of Mount Fuji blends together wide-ranging historical, art historical, religious, social, economic, geological, and ecological perspectives. It balances a history of how the mountain and its environment changed with the story of how people envisioned it, worshipped it, exploited it, and climbed it, from the earliest records to the present when it is now a world heritage site. Written with verve and some humor in a style accessible to students and general readers, it is a tour de force of serious scholarship."-Anne Walthall, University of California, Irvine, and author of In the Presence of Gods and Spirits: Hirata Atsutane and His Collaborators
"Andrew Bernstein has written an unusually comprehensive history of Mount Fuji. His scholarly engagement is wide-ranging, treating the reader to a remarkable array of approaches-from earth science and economics to poetry, art, and religion. The fruit of many years' research, Fuji offers penetrating perspectives on a sacred volcano's convulsive life."-Kären Wigen, author of A Malleable Map: Geographies of Restoration in Central Japan, 1600–1912 "Bernstein's perspective on the intersection of geography and culture is illuminating, and the text is richly supplemented with maps and images. [Fuji] will resonate with those who have a deep interest in Japanese history." "An encyclopedic analysis of a national icon." "Although readers may know the name of the highest mountain in Japan, few will be familiar with the comprehensive and illuminating history of Mount Fuji that historian Bernstein provides in this awe-inspiring account. . . . [Fuji] brings the majesty and mystery of Mount Fuji to readers." "Fuji: A Mountain in the Making follows a number of 'biographies' of rivers and mountains, charting the relationsh
