Presentation 'The Journey to Fuji'
The Story
Long time ago in the village of Minami-Ashigara in the prefecture of Kanagawa , at the foot of Mt. Hakone, there was a young boy named Dai-Nippon Shūichi. He lives in a nice warm house with his mother, father and two sisters. Every morning when Dai-Nippon wakes up he looks out of his window. There he sees the great holy Mount Fuji, situated not far from Mt. Hakone. Mount Fuji is an old volcano that towers over Japan, and it's an important part of Japanese culture. There are all kinds of myths and stories, and each Japanese family tells their own version. The mother of Dai-Nippon always tells the story about the goddess of Fuji. Women were prohibited to climb the holy mount, because they could wake up the jealous goddess Konohana Sakuyahime (tree-flower-blooms-princess). The name refers to the short-lived beauty of the cherry blossom, that grows on the mountain. Dai-Nippon is always wondering what Konohana looks like, and imagines how she lives up there.
Dai-Nippon’s father Asano Shūichi is a big business man, who is known for his company called Fuji Film. When Dai-Nippon grew older his dad’s company got bigger and so all the males in the family have to work within the company. Dai-Nippon is part of the design department.
But one day his dad gives his son a big assignment to make symbols for the cameras. A Big challenge because they are going to be used on every Fuji camera. You have several different modes on a camera, so for each he has to make a symbol. Portrait, reminds him of the goddess Konohana Sakuyahime, so the symbol becomes a female head seen from the side. Close-up mode, makes him think of cherry blossom that grows on the mountain, so the flower becomes the symbol. The last mode is landscape, and he could only imagine one thing, the mountain Fuji. The perfect Japanese landscape.
Audio link: https://soundcloud.com/solangefrankort/the-journey-to-fuji
