Mount Aozora

From Ordic Encyclopedia
Mount Aozora in the background with the city of Izu.

Mount Aozora (青空山, Aozorasan), located on Akitsukuni, is the highest mountain in Yamatai at 3,776.24 m. It is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–1708. Mount Aozora lies about 100 kilometres north-east of Heian, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Aozora's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped for about 5 months a year, is a well-known symbol of Yamatai and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.

Mount Aozora is one of Yamatai's "Three Holy Mountains" (三霊山, Sanreizan) along with Tenzan Mountain and Hijiriyama. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Yamatai's Historic Sites. The mountain holds major cultural and religious significance to the Yamataian people, and is the site of the creation of humans in the Yamataian creation myth. According to tradition, the goddess Chihiro was pushed off of the mountain by the trickster goddess Haru-hime. Upon hitting the ground, Chihiro broke into 1,000 humans, which were the first humans.

Prehistoric settlements near Mount Aozora were some of the largest and have some of the oldest evidence of sedentary agricultural society in the Yashiman islands.

See also