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Unjo-Fuji
When I look at the board, images pop up in my mind like a delusion.
This is one of them.
I grew up in the southern end of the Kofu Basin.
Beyond Nishiyama (Kushigatayama) a white mountain peeked out. It looked like a faraway world. As a child I wondered what kind of world was beyond that.
Now, of course I know the name of that white mountain. It is the Shirane Sanzan mountains, which include Kitadake, Ainodake, and Notoridake. They are famous mountains that boast some of the highest heights in Japan. Kitadake is the second highest mountain in Japan, and Ainodake is the third highest, along with Okuhodakadake. From the house where I live now, I can see the second and third highest mountains in Japan. The three mountains look most attractive in winter.
Oku-Shirane, the glittering snow of a world Maeda Fura
This bliss.
Two seniors were working part-time at a mountain hut. In the summer soon after I started school, they said they were going to climb Kitadake. I was dragged along to climb it, determined to do so without asking for permission.
“Since we’ve come this far, we’re going to take a five-minute break. Don’t take off your backpack. You’ll have to stand up while resting.” After hearing this several times, we had a long break. We reached a small pond at the end of a steep climb. From there, we climbed another heart-pounding climb and came to the ridge. We were already almost 3,000 meters up. We walked along the ridge like we were taking a walk in the sky. We could see clouds both above and below. Then, we crawled over the last rocky area and stood on the summit. I don’t remember how many hours it took, but we left the foot of the mountain early in the morning and reached the summit just before noon.
The 3,193m peak towered over the mountains of the four worlds. I was immersed in a sense of elation, as if I had conquered the world. All the fatigue I had felt up until then had vanished as if it were a lie.
Suddenly, I looked to the southeast and saw Mt. Fuji on the horizon beyond the clouds. It was so high, so high, Mt. Fuji was so high, I was shocked as if I had been struck by lightning. That’s how it looked, even though in reality Fuji was a trapezoid that rose just above the horizon.
I remembered the words of my high school teacher: “You can understand the height of a mountain by climbing other mountains.” Since then, I have climbed Kitadake many times in the summer. Fuji was always above the clouds.