Mount Tengu and Jukkoku Pass | The moment you see Mount Fuji, the verification in the back of your mind has already begun

Mount Fuji is something you can feel like you've seen,
even if you never have.

It doesn't have to be a photograph.
It doesn't need an explanation either.

The moment you hear the words "Mount Fuji," that form already appears in your mind.

When you actually see it in front of you, something strange happens.

Before you can think it's beautiful, you are already "convinced."
Before you can be surprised, it's already over.

Before you know it, your eyes are following it on their own.
But you don't really know what you are looking at.

It doesn't feel like you are choosing where to rest your gaze.
Everything is simply there.

For example, the Northern Alps are different.

Some days your eyes are drawn to the roughness of the rocks, and other days you are attracted to the thinness of the ridgeline.
Where you look is left up to you at that moment.
That is why you look at them again and again.

But Mount Fuji is different.

You cannot choose where to look.
From the very beginning, you are shown everything.

There is no room for choice.

While walking on the mountain, I kept thinking.
Why does Mount Fuji silence people so much?

Perhaps it is because,
it has "no margin."

The moment you see it, it is already stored in your head as a completed form.
Before you can think about "how you feel," the room to feel it has already vanished.

When I am looking at Mount Fuji,
I don't feel like my own sensibilities are at work.

Even though I didn't choose to,
I am already "feeling that way."

That is why no words come out.

There is no need to add or subtract anything.
You simply have to accept it as it is.

Something that is complete silences people.

But Mt. Fuji is a little different.

It makes you silent.

Your gaze, your thoughts, and your reactions are all anticipated. By the time you realize it, the verification is already over.

Perhaps Mt. Fuji is not a mountain you go to see.

I think it is a mountain you go to,
in order to trace the shape already imprinted within yourself.

No matter how many times I see it, I want to confirm it again.

Conclusion | Even with the same Mt. Fuji, the way it wears the air differs slightly depending on where you view it from

Even with the same Mt. Fuji,
the air it wears differs slightly depending on where you view it from.

Even so, no matter where you look at it from, you know it is "Mt. Fuji."
That certainty is strange, yet somehow makes me happy.