The First Time I Saw Mount Fuji
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I didn’t encounter Mount Fuji in a single, clearly defined moment.
There was no dramatic arrival and no perfect viewpoint. I was moving through the region — by road, by train, between towns — when the mountain entered my awareness gradually. At first, almost in passing. Then, more deliberately, as the landscape opened up.
It took a moment to register. And that felt appropriate.
A Name That Says a Lot
Early on, I noticed that many people didn’t refer to it as “Mount Fuji” at all. In everyday conversation, it was often called Fuji-san — not ceremonially, not poetically, just familiarly.
That small shift in language mattered. It suggested a relationship built over time, something present rather than elevated. For visitors, hearing the name often comes before understanding why the mountain feels less like an attraction and more like part of the background of daily life.
You Don’t Always See It When You Expect To
One of the first lessons about Mount Fuji is that visibility is never guaranteed.
Clouds gather quickly. Light changes. Entire days can pass without a clear view of the summit. At first, that uncertainty feels inconvenient. Then it starts to feel normal.
I remember moments when I thought I had missed it entirely — only to catch a partial view later from a roadside stop or through a brief opening in the clouds. The mountain didn’t present itself on cue. When it appeared, it felt incidental rather than staged.
Distance and Proximity Change Everything
I saw Mount Fuji from different distances.
From farther away, its shape felt graphic and unmistakable — a clean silhouette anchoring the horizon. Up close, that clarity dissolved. Trees, buildings, uneven terrain, and weather broke the mountain into fragments.
Neither experience felt more authentic than the other. Each simply revealed a different aspect of the same place. The farther views emphasized form. The closer ones emphasized scale and complexity.
An Understated First Encounter
What stayed with me most was how restrained the experience was.
There was no sense of arrival.
No moment that demanded attention.
No pause in the rhythm of everyday life around it.
Cars passed. People went about their routines. The mountain remained still, unaffected by any of it. Mount Fuji didn’t announce itself. It didn’t compete with its surroundings. It existed quietly, whether it was being noticed or not.
How the Memory Took Shape
I didn’t leave with a single defining image of Mount Fuji.
Instead, the memory formed gradually — a glimpse here, a clearer view there, a final look before moving on. Over time, those fragments settled into something more complete than any single photograph could capture.
The mountain didn’t imprint itself instantly. It accumulated.
From Observation to Interpretation
Spending time with Mount Fuji this way — noticing it gradually rather than arriving at it — changed how I wanted to remember the place.
Instead of trying to capture a single, definitive image, I found myself drawn to the quieter aspects of the mountain: its distance, its restraint, the way it exists alongside everyday life.
That perspective eventually became the starting point for an artistic interpretation — not of the mountain as a symbol, but of the experience of encountering it over time.
Seeing It Without Performance
Mount Fuji is one of the most photographed landmarks in the world. Yet my experience of it feels difficult to reduce to an image.
What I remember isn’t spectacle or drama. It’s restraint. A landmark that doesn’t perform for the viewer, and doesn’t seem to require interpretation.
Perhaps that’s why the first encounter stays with you — not because it overwhelms, but because it allows itself to be noticed in its own time.
A Note on Travel and Memory
Some places don’t stay with us because we photographed them.
They stay because of how they quietly settled into memory.
At Studio Buenaventura, travel-inspired artworks are created as reflections of those moments — not as literal scenes, but as interpretations shaped by light, distance, and experience.
For readers who feel a connection to Mount Fuji beyond the image itself, you can explore the artwork inspired by this place here.
👉 Explore the Mount Fuji artwork
Written by Thiago Castilho, artist and traveler