Mount Fuji is a fascinating volcanic cone and a frequent subject of Japanese art, especially after 1600, when Edo (now Tokyo) became

the capital and people saw the mountain while traveling along the Tkaid Road. According to historian H. Byron Earhart, "in medieval times

it was finally seen by the Japanese as the "number one" mountain in the known world of the three countries of India, China and Japan.

The mountain has been mentioned in Japanese literature for ages. And it is the subject of many poems.The summit has been considered

sacred since ancient times and was forbidden for women until the Meiji era in the late 1860s. Ancient samurai used the base of the mountaina

as a remote training area, near today's city of Gotemba. Shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo held yabusam archery competitions in the area in the

early Kamakura period.The first ascent by a foreigner was made in September 1860 by Sir Rutherford Alcock, who climbed the mountain in 8

hours and descended in 3 hours. 427  The brief description of Alcock in the tycoon's capital was the first widely circulated description

of the mountain to the west. 421–27 Lady Fanny Parks, wife of British Ambassador Sir Harry Parks, was the first non-Japanese woman to climb

Mount Fuji. in 1867. Photographer Felix Beato climbed Mount Fuji two years later. On March 5, 1966, BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707,broke down

in flight and crashed near Mount Fuji Gotemba New Fifth Station shortly after departure from Tokyo International Airport. All 113passengers

Fill in some textand 11 crew members died in the disaster, which was attributed to the extreme clear air turbulence caused by the

waves beneath the mountain's air. A short distance from Gotemba New Fifth Station is a memorial to the accident.