The first card of this week actually to show Japan also shows Mount Fujiyama.
Now whilst most people will tell you that this is the most famous mountain in Japan, not many realise that whilst it is a mountain, it is also a volcano, and it is still active. And though the last eruption was in 1707, there is an evacuation plan always in place, and for the last few years there have been increasing signs that it is preparing to do so all over again.
The first eruption is mentioned in folklore. Apparently a local farmer had been complaining about how his land was so poor, and nothing would grow there. He even went in the fields and asked the gods for help, not for him, but for his family, who were starving. One night he was awoken by a loud noise, which he thought was an earthquake, and he quickly woke his family and they all ran out of the simple hut in which they lived. The first thing they saw was that the ground was splitting, and a huge god was coming out of it with his hair on fire. Then the sky was on fire, and it was raining red tears to the ground. And it was this simple farmer who called it Fuji Yama, which means fire mountain. Then, some time later, whilst going out and looking at the magic mountain which the god had left behind, he found that the plants which he had given up on ever sprouting were beginning to appear. This is now a well known fact, because the eruption of a volcano throws up the contents from below the soil, things like potassium, ash, and magnesium, good natural fertilisers - but at the time it would have indeed been a miracle from the gods.
It was first climbed by a non Japanese in 1860, but is, and has been, regularly, climbed by Japanese who view it as a pathway to the gods and as a sacred site on which to reach enlightenment. However some believe that there is still a god on the top and if you do not respect them on your climb they will punish you, and you will never find the way back down.
Now as this card comes from a larger group, and to save repetition, we will direct you to the entry for the second set, which is the first that we have so far. That was the Card of the Day for the 7th of January 2024.