‘I’m impressed I climbed so well,’ Kokichi Akuzawa told the Associated Press. ‘It’s better to climb while you still can’
In his twilight years Kokichi Akuzawa has suffered heart failure, shingles and a fall that required stitches.
But at the ripe old age of 102, nothing could stop him climbing Japan’s tallest mountain.
In a feat that will put people half his age to shame, he conquered Mount Fuji to enter the Guinness World Records as the oldest person to reach the summit.
Mr Akuzawa has claimed the title after the Ichijiro Araya was the first centenarian to summit Mount Fuji at 100 years old.
“I’m impressed I climbed so well,” he said. “It’s better to climb while you still can.”
At 3,776 metres (12,388ft), Mount Fuji is a treacherous journey even for younger climbers.
Kokichi Akuzawa displays his Guinness World Records certificate
At its peak the atmospheric pressure is approximately two thirds of sea-level pressure, and oxygen concentration stands at about 65 per cent compared to sea-level ground. For inexperienced climbers such conditions can cause dizziness, headaches and in some rare cases swelling of the lungs.
While Mount Fuji can be climbed in a day, Mr Akuzawa did the sensible thing of spreading his climb over three days to give himself a chance to rest and acclimatise gradually.
Still, he nearly gave up before reaching the penultimate ninth station.
“It was tough, and it felt a lot different to the last time I climbed it,” he said.
Mr Akuzawa started his climb on Aug 5 after camping for two nights on the trail. He set off wearing a red vest, helmet and sturdy boots with Motoe Hoshino, his 70-year-old daughter, his granddaughter, her husband and four friends from a local mountain climbing club.
He had spent three months training before the Fuji climb, waking up at 5am for hour-long walks and tackling roughly one mountain each week, mostly around Nagano prefecture to the west of Gunma in central Japan, according to the Asahi Shimbun.
Mr Kokichi made the climb alongside Motoe Hoshino, his 70-year-old daughter, his granddaughter and her husband
As gruelling as it sounds, Mr Akuzawa has done this before. He was 96 when he last climbed Mount Fuji. What drives him is a love for peaks that remains undiminished by age.
“I climb because I like it,” he said.
In his home in Maebashi, about 241 kilometres (150 miles) north-west of Tokyo, framed paintings of mountains hang on the walls.
Reflecting on what first drew him to mountains 88 years ago, he told the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun it was not just about reaching the peak – but the people along the way.
“It’s easy to make friends on the mountain.”
While Mount Fuji stands relatively small compared to the fiendish peaks of South Asia, (Everest is 8,849m high) it occupies an important place in Japanese art and religion, immortalised countless times in stamps, prints and paintings as a beautiful lonesome peak blanketed in snow. It draws more than 200,000 hikers every year.
The weather can change drastically along the trail, and thunderstorms are common in the mid-afternoon. Even during the summer, the temperature at the summit hovers between five and eight degrees Celsius.
Equal footing
For a young Mr Akuzawa, the initial draw of climbing was that it was an escape from his studies and life as an engine design engineer.
“Whether you liked studying or not, you could enjoy the mountain just the same,” he said. “Intelligence didn’t matter up there. We were all on equal footing and moved forward together.”
The biggest change for him in his forays into the clouds is that he cannot climb solo like he used to. Now a frail man, he needs the support of others to get him to the top.
“Mount Fuji isn’t a difficult mountain, but this time it was harder than six years ago – harder than any mountain before,” he said.
“I’ve never felt this weak. I didn’t have pain, but I kept wondering why I was so slow, why I had no stamina. I’d long since passed my physical limit, and it was only thanks to everyone else’s strength that I made it.”
Does the 102-year old have it in him to have another crack next year? Mr Akuzawa would love nothing more than to keep reuniting with his lifelong friend, but even he knows that age has its limits.
“I’d love to keep climbing forever, but I guess I can’t anymore,” he told the Asahi Shimbun.
“If you ask me next year, maybe you’ll get a different answer, but for now, I’m happy with that climb,” he said.
If he does, no doubt the gods that are said to live on Mount Fuji will be glad to welcome him back.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
AloJapan.com