is a

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

in the Nikkō National Park in

Tochigi Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,897,649 (1 June 2023) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi ...

, in central

Honshū , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...

, the main island of Japan. The mountain is high. A prominent landmark, it can be seen on clear days from as far as Saitama, a city away. Alongside Mount Nikkō-Shirane, Mount Nantai is one of the newest volcanic edifices in the National Park. Scientific studies of the volcano's geological structure began in 1957 and have established that it was formed roughly 23,000 years ago and that its last eruption was 7000 years ago. The volcano was classified as active by the

Japan Meteorological Agency The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA; ''気象庁, Kishō-chō'') is a division of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism dedicated to the Scientific, scientific observation and research of natural phenomena. Headquartered ...

in June 2017. Since its first known ascent by

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

Shōdō Shōnin in the 8th century AD, Mount Nantai has become a sacred mountain and a site of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

in Buddhism and

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

. As such, it is currently maintained by Futarasan jinja, a Shinto shrine whose constitutes Mount Nantai. With

Tōshō-gū A is a Shinto shrine in which Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, is enshrined. List of Tōshō-gū, Tōshō-gūs are found throughout Japan. The most well-known Tōshō-gū is the Nikkō Tōshō-gū located i ...

and

Rinnō-ji is a Tendai Buddhist temple in the city of Nikkō, Tochigi, Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. History The site was established in 766 by the Buddhist monk Shōdō Shōnin (735–817). Due to its geographic isolation, deep in the mountai ...

, the site forms the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō, a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s conducted here from the 19th to 20th centuries have unearthed many artifacts, dating from the end of the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

in the 8th century AD to the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

from the 17th to 19th centuries. A few of these have been declared Important Cultural Properties by the Japanese

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The age ...

. Mount Nantai is listed among the

100 Famous Japanese Mountains is a book written in 1964 by Mountaineering, mountaineer and author Kyūya Fukada.Hyakumeizan, Hiking Japan ...

as written by

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

and author

Kyūya Fukada was a Japanese people, Japanese writer and mountaineer active during the Shōwa period in Japan. Early life Kyūya was born in what is now Kaga, Ishikawa, Kaga city, Ishikawa prefecture. He attended the Fujishima High School, followed by the pr ...

Toponymy

Literally, the two

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

characters that make up the name, 男 and 体, mean "man" and "body" respectively, and so together the combined word 男体 means "male body". Mount Nantai is said to have been the father in a family of mountain deities in Shinto, of which the neighboring Mount Nyohō is the mother and Mount Tarō the eldest son.

Trekking

The mountain is popular with hikers, and the trail to the summit starts through a gate at Futarasan Shrine's . The gate is open between 5 May and 25 October. Mount Nantai is one of the 100 famous mountains in Japan.

Volcanic activity

In September 2008, the

was asked to reclassify Mount Nantai as "active" based upon work by Yasuo Ishizaki and colleagues of Toyama University showing evidence of an eruption approximately 7000 years ago.

Mount Nantai as a sacred mountain

Archaeologists affirm that during the

Yayoi period The Yayoi period (弥生時代, ''Yayoi jidai'') (c. 300 BC – 300 AD) is one of the major historical periods of the Japanese archipelago. It is generally defined as the era between the beginning of food production in Japan and the emergence o ...

the most common (a ''

yorishiro A in Shinto terminology is an object capable of attracting spirits called , thus giving them a physical space to occupy during religious ceremonies. are used during ceremonies to call the for worship. The word itself literally means "approach ...

'' housing a ''

kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

'') in the earliest

Shinto shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

s was a nearby mountain peak supplying with its streams water, and therefore life, to the plains below where people lived. Mount Nantai constitutes Futarasan Shrine's ''go-shintai'', and the shrine is an important example of this ancient type of mountain cult. Significantly, the name itself means "man's body". The mountain not only provides water to the rice paddies below, but has the shape of the

phallic A phallus (: phalli or phalluses) is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history, a figure with an erect penis is described as ''ithyphallic''. Any object that symbo ...

stone rods found in pre-agricultural Jōmon sites.

References

External links