I Send “Don’t Forget Leprosy” Message from the Peak of Mount Fuji (2)
At 4:19 p.m. on August 3, a seven-member party, comprising myself, my four sons and two staff members of The Nippon Foundation, set out from the Kawaguchi-ko 5th station of Mount Fuji, located about 100 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, and reached a mountain hut near the 8th station at 7:47 p.m.
Mount Fuji is divided into ten stations with the first station at the foot of the mountain and the tenth being the summit. Most climbers start at the 5th station, halfway to the peak, as it is accessible by road.
We spent four and a half hours in the hut, which was called Toyo-kan, and I chatted with my four sons for the first time in months. I did not sleep at all. At 0:30 a.m. on August 4, we left the hut with the idea of timing our ascent to witness the sunrise from the summit.
After about 30 minutes, it started raining heavily. Our headlamps illuminated the wet terrain, which was steep and rocky. We tackled the mountain at a slow pace, almost crawling on all fours at times to keep our footing. Then came a hailstorm. Big lumps of ice mercilessly pelted us on the head and back as we leaned into the steep slope. It felt like we were climbing up a 45-degree incline.
The precipitous slope around the 8th station of Mount Fuji is where the Japanese phrase munatsuki hacchou, meaning the hardest and most crucial phase before achieving an important goal, comes from. It literally means climbing a very steep slope as if pressing your chest against it. This is what Mr. Tamori, one of Japan’s best-known television celebrities, said on his Saturday evening travelogue series Buratamori broadcast by NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, according to my well-informed wife Kazuyo.
We were fortunate to be able to take a rest under the eaves of a hut around the 8th station. We all got totally drenched.
I was told that with the wind-chill factor taken into account, the temperature at the summit drops below zero in the predawn darkness even in mid-summer. But despite the unfriendly weather and sudden temperature changes, I stayed warm since I had the proper gear－footwear, socks, underwear, pants, cap, gloves and rainwear from outdoor clothing and equipment manufacturer Montbell－prepared by my third son Kohei.
I did not suffer from altitude sickness either.
We reached the summit two minutes before the sunrise at 4:42 a.m. Unfortunately, we could not witness the morning light called goraikō, or "arrival of light,” due to the bad weather.
But we were able to take a photo of me with a “Don’t Forget Leprosy” sign despite the strong wind.
The descent of Mount Fuji is considered by many to be more difficult than the ascent. The trail leading down is made up of loose rock and pebbles and there is a risk of falling face forward or slipping flat on one’s back.
We descended in silence amid a thunderstorm, getting back to the 5th station at 11:49 a.m. on August 4.
Before climbing Mount Fuji, I played golf, and did not have dinner or breakfast until the end of the hike.
On the first day, our ascent from the 5th to the 8th station took 3 hours and 30 minutes. On the second, it took 10 hours and 37 minutes to reach the summit and descend to the 5th station, despite sudden changes in the weather.
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