I Climbed Mount Fuji | Tomohiro Ichinose, Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies

Mount Fuji is clearly visible from Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC). Seen from here, the mountain looks far larger than it does from central Tokyo, where Mita Campus is located. To be precise, there are only a few spots on campus with a clear view, but step just outside, and you can enjoy Mount Fuji in every season. On September 1, I climbed to its summit for the first time.

I have visited the foot of Mount Fuji countless times, but I had never gone higher than the fifth station, whether by car or on foot. I had often heard it said that Fuji is a mountain to look at rather than to climb, and it had never ranked high on my list of mountains I wanted to climb. As the years went by, however, I began to think that if I did not climb it while I still could, I might never get another chance.

I have written about our Special Research Projects in this Okashira Diary several times before. Last year we visited Daisetsuzan with my students, and while we were discussing where to hold the next one, the idea of Mount Fuji came to me. Another reason to go ahead was that two students in my Kenkyukai happened to have considerable mountaineering experience. When I called for participants, 14 students signed up — those enrolled in the course, plus graduate students and others.

We traveled to Mishima on August 30 and stayed the night, then took an early local bus to the Fujinomiya Trail Fifth Station on the morning of the 31st. The bus ride from Mishima Station to the trailhead takes a full two hours. To guard against altitude sickness, we started slowly: on the first day we climbed Mount Hoei and spent the night at a hut at the New Seventh Station. I had expected the first day to be no more than an easy walk, but the trailhead itself stands at about 2,400 meters, and even a short climb left me short of breath. Unfortunately, it began to drizzle partway along, and by the time we reached the hut, I was far more tired than I had imagined I would be.

The next day we left the hut early in the morning and set out for the summit. Everyone was in good shape, and we were fortunate with the weather, with a sea of clouds spreading out below us. We had heard that the summit had been 0 degrees Celsius the day before, so we all came well prepared against the cold, but the temperature did not seem to have dropped that far. I brought up the rear, and with everyone encouraging one another, all of us reached the summit, Kengamine, safely.

It is often said that more accidents happen on the way down than on the way up, but on the descent too, the students with more experience or stamina looked after those who were tired, and we all made it down without a single injury or case of illness. With accidents on Mount Fuji in the news repeatedly this year, I was prepared to turn back at the slightest cause for concern, but in the end there was no need. The fine weather surely had much to do with it. Predictably, my legs ached the next day — there is no beating the years. Having climbed it once, I think I will be content from now on simply to look at it from campus.