First snowfall on Japan’s Mount Fuji this winter, 21 days later than usual

The peak of Japan’s Mount Fuji was capped with snow for the first time this winter on Thursday, reaching the milestone 21 days later than the average since records began in 1894, the meteorological agency said.

This year’s snowfall came two weeks earlier than 2024, when snow settled on the 3,776-metre (12,388-ft) mountain only on November 7, the latest since records began.

The sacred mountain is among Japan’s most enduring symbols – its snow-capped summit has inspired some of Japan’s greatest works of art, such as Katsushika Hokusai’s Great Wave Off Kanagawa, which now features on the back of the 1,000-yen note.

The season’s first snowcap on Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, located on the borders of Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, on Thursday. Photo: Kyodo via Reuters

While the first snowfall on Fuji had arrived later in recent years, the cause was uncertain, Mamoru Matsumoto of the Kofu observatory office of the meteorological agency told Reuters last year.

Japan recorded its highest-ever temperature in August, when it reached 41.8 degrees Celsius (107.2 Fahrenheit) in the city of Isesaki to the northwest of Tokyo.

Fuji’s “first” snowfall is defined as the first point after summer at which all or part of the mountain is visibly covered in snow or “white-looking solid precipitation” when observed from below, according to the Kofu observatory office of the meteorological agency.