Asama volcano, central Honshu, Japan
Asama is perhaps the most active of Japanese volcanoes.
It last erupted in November of 2004.
It also has the second oldest historically dated Japanese
eruption of 685AD.
Generally vulcanian in style, an exception was a sub-plinian
eruption in 1783.
The 1783 eruption was one of the greatest Japanese volcanic
disasters with nearly 1,400 dead.
A pumice fall was followed by two pyroclastic flows and terminated
by a lava flow.
Though the four phases of the eruption are vastly different
in terms of their morphology,
the composition of the magma remained almost constant from
start to finish.
The edifice is rather complex, consisting of a strato-volcano,
surmounting a shield volcano,
surmounting an older stratovolcano.
A permanent observatory monitors activity at the volcano.
The souvenir sheet illustrated below was issued as part of
the National Park Series in 1954.
Asama is the stamp on the left.
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