First Glimpse of Fuji

(Leaf 48) – Looking Back

 

Kawase Hasui - Fuji-san, seen from Kawaguchi-ko (1935)

My first glimpse of Mount Fuji close-up was breathtaking. Sitting on the bus, barrelling along the highway, winding gently around mountain passes, in and out of tunnels. When all of a sudden, rounding a bend, there was Fuji-san – framed in the steep cut of a ravine, with the winter sun, shining ever so brightly, directly overhead in a clear blue sky. Covered in snow, shining pearly white and rose gold through a slight haze. Everything that people have said about it is true. It has an elegance and a grace which is supernaturally serene.

 

 

First glimpse of Fuji

– a pile of diamonds,

glinting in the sunlight.

 

 

Tim Chamberlain - Fuji-san, seen on the road to Kawaguchi-ko (2004)