Mount Fuji is a landmark in the journey that brings Sayuri to the Baron’s summer house in Hakone. The novel places her at a small inn overlooking the mountain shortly before the Baron sends a motorcar to collect her, making the setting a threshold between travel and the social spectacle arranged for his guests.

Setting and Journey

Late one morning, Sayuri is staying at a little inn overlooking Mount Fuji. The next day, the Baron’s motorcar takes her from the inn to his summer house, which stands amid woods at the edge of a lake. The mountain is thus associated with a temporary stop on the way to the estate, rather than with a sustained stay or a separate episode there.

Narrative Significance

At the inn, Sayuri is still apart from the gathering that awaits her; at the summer house, the Baron presents her to his guests in the full regalia of an apprentice geisha from Kyoto. The transition from the mountain-view inn to the crowded estate shifts her from private travel into public display. Mount Fuji’s narrative function is concise but specific: it locates the pause before the Baron’s introduction of Sayuri and the work he expects her to perform for the assembled men.