Yamanashi Prefectural Fujisan World Heritage Center

 

World Heritage Site- Fujisan > About “World Heritage”

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World Heritage Site- Fujisan

About “World Heritage Site”

The World Heritage Sites are the ruins, buildings, nature, etc. that have registered under the "Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage" prepared by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

As the irreplaceable properties of mankind, they are required to be internationally conserved and inherited for the future. Japan became a member of contracting parties in 1992.

Cultural Heritage

Monuments (buildings of which historical or artistic values have been recognized), Groups of buildings (Multiple buildings with landscapes, etc. together as a group), Ruins (Groups of ruins, entire communities, cultural landscapes and places with culture inherited); e.g. Acropolis of Athens (Greece) and The Great Wall (China).

Natural Heritage

Strict nature reserve (outstanding ecosystem), Wilderness Area (primitive lands, sea area, etc.), National park, Natural monument area, Habitat/Species Management Area , Protected Landscape/ Seascape, Protected area with sustainable use of natural resources, etc., including Yellowstone National Park (USA) and Great Barrier Reef (Australia).

Mixed Heritage

A property valued for at least one item each of cultural and natural attributes. The heritage sites, where the natural environment and the human cultural activities, both having outstanding universal values, coexist; e.g. Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu (Peru) and Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia (Turkey).

Fujisan - A World Heritage Site

Fujisan, which has given a significant influence on the formation of Japanese people’s view of nature and culture, was registered as a World Cultural Heritage site by UNESCO as "Fujisan as an object of faith and the source of art" in 2013. Fujisan that has fostered the faith typified by Fuji-ko sect and a variety of arts including ukiyoe is the world treasure that should be inherited in the future as the one symbolizing the symbiosis of people and nature.

The outstanding universal value of Fujisan

●Evidence showing the native cultural traditions related to mountains, which is the “Beliefs about Fujisan”.
Originated in the belief about Gods and Buddha that had been regarded to reside in Fujisan, the tradition of being grateful to springs at mountain foots and others while emphasizing co-existence with volcanoes, was nurtured. The essence of such tradition surely have been inherited through times to the form and spirit of the current ascent of Fujisan and pilgrimage in Fujisan, The diverse cultural assets that were produced originating from Fujisan and its belief show that Fujisan gives a rare evidence for still existing cultural traditions related to mountains.

●The direct and tangible relationship with the artistic works having outstanding universal significance
The images of Fujisan depicted in ukiyoe in the first half of the 19th Century were often used as motifs for Western arts in modern and contemporary periods. Not only had a profound influence on many works of art in the West, but the images also took roots around the world as an icon symbolizing Japan and its culture. Having direct and tangible relationship with such artistic works which have an outstanding universal significance, Fujisan is an exceptional mountain that has the meaning as an icon symbolizing Japan and its culture.

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