Peachey & Mosig

Saruya Artist Residency

Saruya Artist Residency

Fujiyoshida, Japan
September 2023
When volcanoes erupt mechanical energy sends gases, rock, and ash into the air and moves the lava. Some mechanical energy is converted to sound. Some heat energy is converted to light. Some heat energy is transferred to nearby rocks, plants, and animals causing fire and death. The Hōei eruption was the last confirmed eruption of Mount Fuji in 1707 and is known for the ash-fall it produced over eastern Japan, the subsequent landslides and starvation across the country.
When volcanoes erupt mechanical energy sends gases, rock, and ash into the air and moves the lava. Some mechanical energy is converted to sound. Some heat energy is converted to light. Some heat energy is transferred to nearby rocks, plants, and animals causing fire and death. The Hōei eruption was the last confirmed eruption of Mount Fuji in 1707 and is known for the ash-fall it produced over eastern Japan, the subsequent landslides and starvation across the country.
Saruya Artist Residency
Hōei Crater Fuji-san

Dormant - quiet and suspended, as if asleep and waiting to be roused

Pilgrimage - a journey to some sacred place where the worldly brush up against something more ancient and transcendent

Where we are

Fujiyoshida is built on ancient lava flows that spread across the plain between the mountains, Lake Kawaguchiko and Lake Yamanakako. On the northwest side it reaches the base of Mt Fuji. In summer thousands of people make their way here to the Yoshida Trail, the most widely used path up the volcano.

Northwards

After the residency we headed north towards Hell Valley and Mt Meakin, an active volcano in the Akan-Mashu National Park, Hokkaido. Even though Mt Fuji is technically an active volcano, it definitely feels more sleepy in comparison to Mt Meakin, with it's loudly hissing steaming vents. The ascent is like climbing a living entity that might decide to through you off an any moment as it awakens.