The 1868 Meiji Restoration ended centuries of feudal rule and marked establishment of a new national government, also formalizing the shift of political power to Tokyo.

Hokusai, South Wind, Clear Sky (Red Fuji) 3 The 1856 commemorative publication for PerryвЂ™s expedition pays tribute to the peak by placing its outline in the center of the embossed covers of the three volumes issued by Congress. By the time of Commodore PerryвЂ™s вЂњopeningвЂќ of Japan in 1852-1853, this snow-capped triangle was already famous in the West. The worldwide recognition of Fuji as an icon for Japan was made possible by the distribution of HokusaiвЂ™s and HiroshigeвЂ™s woodblock prints to Europe and America. Convinced that the form of Fuji is identical with the concept of Japan as a nation, he argued for painting that could serve the national purpose. Some had favored the more Chinese style of monochrome painting to depict Fuji in a rather ethereal idealism, but the eighteenth century writer Hiraga Gennai insisted on a more empirical and realistic painting of the mountain. Matters of aesthetics were part of the ongoing debate about Japanese identity. In the mid-nineteenth century, as the country juggled the domestic problem of maintaining internal peace while warding off external threats from European and American powers, ideologues sought a symbol to emphasize the notion of вЂњJapanвЂќ as a nation rather than as a group of individual feudal territories. On this route they were treated to the lovely scenes, especially Fuji, later immortalized in HiroshigeвЂ™s woodblock depiction of Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido. As political power shifted from the ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto to the military rulers of Kamakura and Edo (Tokyo) in eastern Honshu, feudal lords and their retinues (and then merchants and common folk) traveled along the Tokaido (Eastern Sea Road). Two major factors led to an upgrading of FujiвЂ™s importance. In earlier days Fuji was one among many holy peaks, but in medieval times it eventually came to be seen by Japanese as the вЂњnumber oneвЂќ mountain of the known world of the three countries of India, China, and Japan. For most of its history, Fuji has been viewed as a physical, aesthetic, and spiritual phenomenon, but our focus here is on its appropriation as a clarion call for militarism and imperialism in World War II, and then in postwar times its transformation into a harbinger of peace and democracy.

Also, not unlike most peaks in the Japanese islands, it was esteemed as a sacred mountain, worthy of worship as a deity itself, or revered as the dwelling place of the divinities of Shinto, Buddhist, and Taoist origin. Unlike the manmade symbols of other countriesвЂ“вЂ“the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and the pyramids of EgyptвЂ“вЂ“this universally recognized sign for Japan is a natural landmark.ДЇrom its first mention in ancient Japanese poetry, this volcano became a mainstay of not only poetic and literary expression of diverse genres, but also of various graphic forms. The exquisite shape of Fuji, its symmetrical triangle dominating a broad plain, has delighted the Japanese for two millennia, and pleased Western eyes for several centuries. Mount Fuji: Shield of War, Badge of Peace 1

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