Oh, Mountain of Our Eyes, What Do You See?
For about $12 you can buy a wooden walking stick at the base. For a dollar or so each rest station will burn its stamp into it.
![A man presses a brand into a wooden walking stick.](/images/2015-07-25-mt-fuji/stamp.jpg)
![Half the sun peeks out from behind the horizon.](/images/2015-07-25-mt-fuji/sunrise.jpg)
![Clouds and mountains are lit by the sunrise, and the 30˚ slope of Fujiyama is visible in the foreground.](/images/2015-07-25-mt-fuji/slope.jpg)
Two lion statues guard the peak. This one looks south, so it is half lit and half shadowed at sunrise.
![A lion statue is half-illuminated.](/images/2015-07-25-mt-fuji/south.jpg)
This one looks east, into the sun rise.
![The face of a lion statue is totally lit.](/images/2015-07-25-mt-fuji/east.jpg)
I previously imagined Japanese paintings were stylized.
![Silhouettes of mountains beneath a cloudy, pastel blue sky.](/images/2015-07-25-mt-fuji/landscape.jpg)
![A man triumphantly holds his hiking stick above his head, atop a mountain.](/images/2015-07-25-mt-fuji/triumph.jpg)
Mt. Fuji, Japan.