Terminally ill Fuji: baker Hasimuki Makoto and his photo of the sacred mountain

Hashimuki Makoto is a baker by profession. For most of his life, he knew nothing about exposure and exposure. But 10 years ago, a man suddenly became interested in photography, and then the main thing happened in his life. Makoto fell in love with Mount Fuji and became the author of the most famous pictures of this sacred place for the Japanese.

Ironically, Hasimuki Makoto was born and raised in the city of Shizuoka, where Fuji is visible from everywhere. Moreover, you still need to look for a place where you can hide from the splendor of the majestic mountain. Like most of the inhabitants of this area, Hasimuki claimed that Fuji bored him. He showed no interest in its beauties, and he visited the top only once, at the age of 20. At the same time, he found out that he tolerates altitude sickness extremely poorly.

The baker from Shizuoka became a professional photographer by accident. In 2010, he became interested in short trips around the country. Hasimuki photographed beautiful places on his phone, and then posted them on the Mixi social network - one of the first in Japan. Suddenly, the number of his subscribers began to grow. And then the audience demanded more and more photos.

After a while, one of the subscribers of the mini-blog, a professional photographer, contacted Makoto. He wrote that the pictures were beautiful and that he should definitely get a camera. Reluctantly, the man bought an inexpensive digital "soap dish", which allowed him to take better photos. The subscriber was right — he saw a real talent, which was soon talked about not only in social networks.

But the real triumph of Hasimuki did not begin with pictures of urban landscapes and cherry blossoms. One day, his attention was attracted by an ordinary desktop calendar with photos of Fuji standing on his desk. In one of the pictures, the mountain was captured floating in incredibly beautiful clouds. The caption said that the picture was taken in the neighboring town of Shimizu Yoshiwara. Hasimuki caught himself thinking that he had been there dozens of times, but had never seen such a picture.

It's hard to say why an amateur photographer decided to repeat a beautiful picture at all costs. Shimizu Yoshiwara was only a few minutes away. Hasimuki began to visit there in different weather and at different times of the day. It's hard to say how many trips he made until he saw what he needed. He took several pictures and they unexpectedly turned out to be better than the work of a professional with an expensive camera published in the calendar.

Makoto's picture, in which the mountain is surrounded by a huge cloud in the form of a lens, made a splash on the social network. Its author published it in February 2021, and a month later it was difficult to find a Japanese who would not have seen this incredible frame. The picture got on the covers of famous magazines, first in Japan, and then abroad. And Hasimuki Makoto just got sick of Fuji and most of his works are now devoted to this mountain.

However, Fuji itself is not as interesting to the photographer as it is surrounded by clouds, fog or twilight. About his passion for photographing the landscapes of the sacred mountain , Makoto says this:

Less than a year after the first success, Makoto is already considered the best photographer of Mount Fuji in the country, and maybe in the world. He cannot imagine his own without its majestic beauty, although he still does not intend to make ascents.

Now Hasimuki Makoto shoots with a professional camera and has studied all the subtleties of landscape photography. Well, he continues to bake bread, in his free time from photo shoots.

You can see even more beautiful pictures of sacred Fuji on Hashimuki Makoto's Instagram. Maybe in vain the photographer refuses to shoot from the top of the mountain - the views from there are no less fantastic.