Mount Suribachi ( 摺鉢山 , Suribachiyama ) is a 169-metre (554 ft)-high mountain on the southwest end of Iwo Jima in the northwest Pacific Ocean under the administration of Ogasawara Subprefecture , Tokyo Metropolis , Japan .
6-519: The mountain's name derives from its shape, resembling a suribachi or grinding bowl. It is also known as "Mount Pipe" ( パイプ山 , paipu-yama ) , since the volcanic gas and water vapor that rolls in from the summit, alongside the rest of the island, give the appearance of a smoking pipe when viewed from the sea. Joe Rosenthal 's iconic World War II photograph, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima , depicting United States Marines raising an American flag,
12-469: A Japanese mortar and pestle . These mortars are used in Japanese cooking to crush different ingredients such as sesame seeds . The suribachi is a pottery bowl , glazed on the outside and with a rough pattern called kushi-no-me on the unglazed inside. This surface is somewhat similar to the surface of the oroshigane (grater). The surikogi pestle is made from wood to avoid excessive wear on
18-436: The suribachi . Traditionally, the wood from the sanshō tree (Japanese prickly ash) was used, which adds a slight flavor to the food , although nowadays other woods are more common. The bowls have a diameter from 10 to 30 cm (3.9 to 11.8 in). To use the suribachi the bowl is set on a non-slip surface, such as a rubber mat or a damp towel, and the surikogi is used to grind the material. Recently, plastic versions of
24-814: The island and initiated a major battle . For the United States, Iwo Jima was an important strategic point between the United States and mainland Japan, needed for its close proximity to Japan as an airstrip for supporting aircraft in Japanese mainland bombing operations but became useful for damaged B-29s returning to the Mariana Islands from bombing Japan, a status that resulted in severe fighting that led to over 20,000 American casualties and close to 20,000 Japanese killed. Suribachi and surikogi Suribachi ( 擂鉢 , lit. "grinding-bowl") and surikogi ( 擂粉木 , lit. "grind-powder-wood") are
30-519: The peak. One eruption lasted for sixty-five minutes, and created a crater with a diameter of 35 meters and a depth of fifteen meters on the runway near the former airfield from World War II . The Japanese Meteorological Agency reported that on May 2, 2012, a small eruption caused water discoloration to the northeast, and confirmed the appearance of a new fumarole . During World War II , the Japanese built tunnel and bunker systems in and on Mount Suribachi. In February 1945, United States Marines invaded
36-486: Was taken at the mountain's peak during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. Ammunition ship USS Suribachi was named after this mountain. Geologically, the mountain is a cinder cone of andesite , formed by volcanic activity. It is thought that the mountain is a dormant vent to a still active volcano (designated Iō-tō, the name of the island as a whole). From 1889 to 1957, the Japanese government recorded sixteen eruptions on
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