earth science

Mount Daisen

Mount Daisen is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mount Daisen rather than just read about it. In short: Mount Daisen (大山, Daisen) is a dormant stratovolcano in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It has an elevation of 1,729 m (5,673 ft).

Key takeaways

Mount Daisen belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mount Daisen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mount Daisen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mount Daisen (大山, Daisen) is a dormant stratovolcano in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It has an elevation of 1,729 m (5,673 ft). This mountain is the highest in the Chūgoku region, and the most important volcano on the Daisen volcanic belt, which is a part of the Southwestern Honshu volcanic arc, where the Philippine Sea Plate is subducting under the Amurian Plate.

Outline Mount Daisen is a complex volcano, made by repeated volcanic activity over thousands of years. Eruptions in this area started 1.8 million years ago and resulted in Old Daisen some 500,000 years ago. The Mount Daisen of today, New Daisen, resulted from a second group of eruptions which started 50,000 years ago and ended 10,000 years ago in the caldera of Old Daisen. 50,000 years ago, this mountain had a plinian eruption from which volcanic ash can be found as far away as the Tohoku Region of Japan. Daisen is one of the 100 famous mountains in Japan, and also one of the Chūgoku 100 mountains.

History and religion Mount Daisen, which stands directly on the Sea of Japan, was regarded as one of the most important mountains for Japanese Shugendō religion. According to the Izumo Kokudo Fudoki, completed in 733, it was called Ōgami-take, literally, Mountain of the great god. This and Ōgami-yama (whence the name of Ōgamiyama Jinja) represent the older, native Japanese name for the mountain, while Daisen is the Chinese-based go-on reading of 大山, literally, great mountain. Mount Daisen has been called Hōki Fuji and Izumo Fuji, depending on which side of the mountain the viewer is standing on. These names are based on the old Hōki and Izumo provinces. Halfway up the mountain stands a Buddhist temple, Daisen-ji. This has existed as a centre of worship since the Heian period. It was founded by the Tendai sect in 718. Climbing the mountain used to be severely prohibited without a selected monk of Daisen-ji, and common people could not access the mountain until the Edo period. The mountain has also been important to the mountain ascetics of the Shugendō sect. Just above the temple is the Ōgamiyama Jinja, literally, shrine of the mountain of the great god.

Route After the 2000 Tottori earthquake, some of Mount Daisen's peaks are on the verge of collapse. It is prohibited to ascend the mountain's highest peak, the Kengamine (1,729 metres (5,673 ft)). Climbers are able to access the Misen Peak (1,709.4 metres (5,608 ft)). The most popular route is from Daisen-ji to the Misen Peak. It takes three hours to reach the summit.

Gallery

See also List of mountains in Japan List of volcanoes in Japan List of Ultras of Japan

References

Geographical Survey Institute Paul Hunt, Hiking in Japan: An Adventurer's Guide to the Mountain Trails, Tokyo, Kodansha International Ltd., 1988. ISBN 0-87011-893-5 and ISBN 4-7700-1393-0 C0075

External links "Daisen". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2021-06-25. Daisen - Geological Survey of Japan Daisen Guide - Houki town

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mount Daisen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mount Daisen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mount Daisen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mount Daisen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mount Daisen

In research: Mount Daisen appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mount Daisen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mount Daisen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Calderas of Honshū, Complex volcanoes, Highest points of Japanese national parks, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mount Daisen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Mount Daisen” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Mount Daisen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mount Daisen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mount Daisen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mount Daisen in simple terms?

Mount Daisen (大山, Daisen) is a dormant stratovolcano in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It has an elevation of 1,729 m (5,673 ft).

Why does Mount Daisen matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mount Daisen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mount Daisen.