Cultural Landscape Field Dynamics and Symbolic Transmutation : A Co-constitutive Analysis of Mount Fuji's Natural Ontology and Cultural Semiosis in Transregional Epistemologies
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Abstract
Situated within the theoretical framework of Area Studies, this paper examines the co-constitutive relationship between Mount Fuji's natural significance and cultural identity through the lens of cultural landscape field dynamics, incorporating its conceptual foundations, operational logics, and processes of symbolic reconfiguration. The study identifies a tripartite mechanism through which the Fuji region achieves nature-culture synergies: the sacralization of geological formations (manifested in lava tree mold-based Tainai spiritual practices), the artistic codification of visual representations (epitomized by Katsushika Hokusai's Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji), and the socio-religious networks sustained by the Oshi pilgrimage patronage system. Against the backdrop of globalization, Japan's strategic deployment of UNESCO World Heritage inscription protocols, digital heritage conservation technologies, and transregional partnership models has reconfigured Mount Fuji as a polysemic symbol operating simultaneously as a national identity anchor and transnational cultural commodity. This trajectory illustrates a paradigm of symbolic transmutation progressing from natural referent to cultural signifier, culminating in geopolitical signification.
The findings provide critical insights for global heritage governance, particularly in negotiating preservation-utilization tensions, deploying techno-cultural mediation strategies, and institutionalizing cross-border cultural synergies.
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