Fuji San

Journey to the Summit of Fuji San

Mt Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 meters (12,388 ft). Fuji-san as it is known in Japanese is a sacred mountain, which the people of Japan climb to show their respect. Though 85% of Japan is covered by mountains, Fuji san does stand alone as the highest and the best.

It ranks #35 in list of prominent peaks, but more than #100 in terms of difficulty. An estimated 200,000 people climb Mount Fuji every year, 30% of whom are foreigners. The most popular period for people to hike is in Summer between July 1 – August 31, when most of the snow melts and clouds are lesser.

Situated in a region densely populated from the stone age and frequently active since its last eruption in 1707, the mountain has acquired an ancient and enormous corpus of myth regarding its divine origins, resident deities, and spiritual powers. The soaring peak is respected as the home of a Fire God, later the dwelling of a Shinto Goddess of flowing trees (Konohana Sakuya Hime), and since Buddhist times, the abode of Dainichi Nyorai, the Buddha of All-Illuminating Wisdom. The name itself may have been drawn from the Fire-God, Huchi  / ape huchi kamuy.

An old Japanese saying goes: Everyone must climb Mount Fuji once - only a fool climbs twice.
Climbing Mt Fuji is a unique experience that only 1% of the Japanese ever experience. That experience is good enough for a lifetime to attempt another.

The first ascent by a foreigner was made by Sir Rutherford Alcock in 1860. It wast until early 1900's that women were allowed to climb the mountain. Recently in 2009 a couple of fund-raisers attempted to climb this mammoth 4 times in 24 hrs. thrice was already accomplished by certain enthusiasts earlier.

Go-gome (The new No. 5 Station) is already halfway up the mountain and the peak is reached after climbing past six other stations before getting to the Tori gate marking the peak of the mountain. However, the walk up is marked as taking just four and a half hours.

Our Tryst with Fuji san
We landed at Narita Airport at 5:45 pm JST and reached Yamanashi at 10:00 pm. A quick wash and change later, we hit the road. Our Japanese friend Hidetoshi (aka Harry) drove us for about an hour to the Go-gome. To begin with, it was a dark rainy night, with severe downpour interspersed with harsh cold winds all along. 

Harry earlier called us soon as we reached Tokyo station with bad news that it has started raining heavily and we should rethink our plans. We brushed aside the taaza report thinking that its just another paranoid Jap not wanting to climb THE Mountain – ahead of hectic cramped back-to-back meeting-filled-days.

The winding road upto Go-gome (5th Station) was dark with hardly any other vehicles around. This added to our curiosity and excitement that we could be the only ones climbing the hill; a butterfly or two creept up within at least one of us. We were strictly advised against eating anything heavy as it could tire us down, so we light-snacked at Starbucks in Narita enroute to Fuji; couldn't say if the buterflies were of excitement or hunger! :-)

Weather forecast of the Jaapanese Met Dept for several days maintained that Aug. 2 & 3 would be warm at Fuji Yoshida, with mild hint of cloud cover. The temperature at surface was predicted to be a warm 30 degrees during day and around 20 at nights. However Fuji-san’s summit was to be a chilly 3 degrees at night and a pleasant 15 at day. Pleasant surprise, Met Depts across the world are no different!! :-p

Enthu Team

We started hiking with full-enthusiasm on Aug. 2 at 00:00 midnight sharp. Harry thoughtfully bought us hand-gloves, drinking water, a rain-coat and head-band-light. Though we were amused, later we realised that these were of immense use. Go-gome is @ 2,400 mtrs, and the fact that the Summit is just 1,500 mtrs away gave is the much needed mojo!

No lights, drizzle, puddles of water, sand, gravel welcomed us along the path way. We just blindly hibernated into a walkway only to realise that we may not be on the right track as it was going down rather than up.

Right track; conservative time 320 mins

A quick correction later, we hit the right track; meanwhile we were joined by a boisterous group of young boys who with their chatter and chants hung around with us for a while and sped-away.

The constant drizzle would alternate with sudden showers.

An hour and many steps later wer found ourselves waiting to reach the next station. Soon enough, a heavily accented voice started to reverbate the hillside about care to be taken and cautioning us of the pitfalls that could befall should one was not carefull enough. Quickly we hastened our steps towards the voice and dim light. It was a station no doubt, but was from a speaker and no human around. The station was shifted to a higher altitude.

Team at 6th Station, with Rain
pounding from the skies

An hour more and we reached 6th Station. Half-drenched with rain and mostly in sweat. A 5 minute rest rejuvinated us and put the spring back into our step. One more hour took us to the next station. The terrain was slowly changing to boulders and lava-rocks, increasingly making it difficult for us to keep up the one hour-per-station mark.

The peak is generally an incline of 20~35 degrees and in some places it becomes steeper at 45~60. It is widely believed that the Fuji was first scaled by a monk, En no Gyoja (regarded as a Bosatu or Bodhisattva) around 650 AD.

At the foot-hill of Fuji is Aokigahara Jukai - Sea of Trees; a 35 sq km forest of Cedar, Pine and Boxwood. The forest (which has a historic association with demons in Japanese mythology, is a popular place for suicides) contains a number of rocky, icy caverns, a few of which are popular tourist destinations. Due to the wind-blocking density of the trees, and an absence of wildlife, the forest is known for being eerily quiet and sometimes scary. It is reportedly the second most popular suicide destination after San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.

Tough hike, flimsy placemarkers

Terrain, Hilly walkway marked
with pieces of reflective stickers

The terrain wore us down to a crawl. Our climbing and resting times now became considerably slower at  10 mins walk = 5 mins rest. The rain stopped and chilly winds took over, out came Tsuki (moon) and Hoshi (stars). Our layered clothing helped, but just. Gloves were a boon with such jagged rocks and hand-oriented climb. Many a time we hauled ourselves up holding the chains along side or climbing on all fours.

Tori Gate at Hachi-gome

03:00 am, Hachi-gome: 8th Station. Water, rest, knicknacks; few of us bought sticks to carry. The walking stick kongozue a traditional souvenir and climbing aid is a Japanese Mt Fuji walking stick. Along the climb, at each station, for J¥200 each you can get a station stamp branded.

A rest room visit costs J¥200 ad increases as we go up.

3.2 kms left

We were now sure that we will miss the Gorai-ko-Sunrise at summit, the highest point on the Land of the Rising Sun. Disappointment struck.

Someone mentioned that "Sun rise is the same all over the Earth"; what's special at Fuji san that we need to torture us in this way? True. Why are we even attempting this? " We never thought of this. In fact Gorai-ko was not on our agenda at all - the summit was; but info about 3.2 kms more of the physically challenging terrain to the top sent shivers.

Goraiko!  04:30 am; new Hachi-gome

According to Japanese, few things in the world compare to watching sunrise from the summit of Mt. Fuji. We just discovered the pleasure. 

Couple of pictures, videos, much needed 20 minute rest later, we restarted our 'Journey to the Top of Japan.'

But as dawn lit the sky, the thin air and lack of sleep slowed us to a head-bowed crawl. The climb isn't imposible, but it does take time and the steep incline & altitude meant that we were often out of breath and taking short breaks.

Taiyo - Akemi

Taiyo (Sun) appeared sharp at the forecasted time of 4:30 am! Hung around for brief 20 minute period and slipped into the solitary cloud.
We experienced the best Akemi (beautiful sunrise) - with clouds below us, clear skies and the Taiyo at eye-level.

Yes this Sunrise was different than all other sunrise views (at Vizag, Pondy, and many other). The effort to reach there, as well as he mass-eupohria that it evokes out of the thousands that throng the summit, perched on every possible square inch of the view-point at Hachi-gome (there is a sunrise view point created by Govt), and the summit itself, holding cameras waiting with bated breath.

Guide to the Ascent

Some take it easy; meaning they start ascent at around 5 pm reach any of the stations, check-in a pre-booked lodging (there are about 17~20 Ryokans) at any of the stations, and restart so as to reach the summit or view-point just in time for Goraiko. Stay costs vary between J¥ 3,000 ~ 8,000 depending on what is chosen.

Most of these lodges are just rooms with carpets or soft floor coverings and dormitory type sleeping facilities with room heaters. It is said that these Ryokans are some times owned through generations, with a few modifications to suit the current era. These huts do not allow visitors to stay within the (heated) huts without paying a resting fee of  ¥1,000-2,000 per hour. Simple meals (curry rice and such), if available at all, will cost upwards of  ¥1,000.

Rainbow formed just in front of us

The Sun rise brought some warmth, the rays were sharp but accompanied with cold wind. As the light grew better, the terrain and the way ahead became clear warning us of the way ahead. Passing clouds brought some showers and a Niji (rainbow) welcomed us into the horizon.

Beaming at 3,250 mtrs

Soon we reached Hachi-go Go-shaku or the new 8th Station at 3,250 meters. We bought tins of Hot o-Cha / Green Tea at ¥500 each. So to say, this was costlier than a can of chilled Pepsi by ¥ 200!

Narrow walk into the clouds

Just then one of our team member announced that he didn't feel well and may not want to continue the ascent. He took a shot from the portable Oxygen cannister brought by our Japanese friend, and after a little rest joined us. Soon he felt nauseating and chose to rest at 8.5 station; we let him be and decided to pick him up on our way back.

View of the Summit, a Mirage?

The terrain now increasinly became gravelly, though in someplaces there were set-backs. The fun in this was that as you tire, the task becomes tougher.

Particularly in some places, the path was so narrow that only one person could barely walk fighting the feeling of falling off the cliff.

Hint of Snow

Then suddenly, it transforms into gravel and small stones and rocky boulders on a steep incline.

Along the way we found some un-melted ice. Though during summer it is widely believed that Fuji san's ice melts, some is left on the hill side and surely in the crater. The temperature changes very rapidly, from bright sunny clear blue sky to mist, clouds and rain. 

The trail became quite crowded after the 8th Station. The Subashiri Trail joins the Kawaguchiko (Fuji Yoshida) Trail. The result is that suddenly the trail became PACKED with hikers. Many of them are traveling in groups of 10's or 20's.

Every station has a Torii gate.
The function of a Torii is to mark the entrance to a sacred space.

9th Station

Torii at the 9th Station

Idea behind so many Torii's (other than to confuse people like us who celebrate thinking the summit is close) is to evoke a sense of achievement of having reached a stage on the trail; as all of those who attempt to scale this peak do not necessarily complete and reach the summit.

Rest - before the final assault

We rested again, one last time before the final assault. There were many Japanese groups along the way; some noisy, few resting; few others taking in bursts of Oxygen from portable cannisters; suddenly one of the girls puked. It was so discreet that if one were to not observe, no one would know at all; she quietly brought out a sickness bag and went about her business.

Carrying trash is one's own responsibility here. We did too! All the empty water bottles, covers, et al we carried back to our rooms and sisposed. Wonder why we don't do it in India?
Having said that, Mt Fuji is littered with all kinds of trash - not just trash of climbers like empty cans, bottles, packets, plastic covers, etc. Trash of the kind: at the foot of the mountain everything from household trash to broken TV sets and other appliances is discarded. A recent annual clean up is said to have yielded a whopping 3-tons of trash!! Guess, it takes all kinds of people that makes up this Universe.

An aged Japanese couple, may be on the other side of 80's re-joined us. The last we saw them was while resting at 7th station and were later grappling with the volcanic rocks. The cute couple still held hands and kind of helped each other climb each step, every now and then looking into each other's eyes and smiling.

 Thoughts of love, companionship and empathy ran at lightening speed across my mind. How many of us would retain this kind of love; or better still - how many would live to be a couple at that age!! We gave way, let them gingerly 'overtake' and reach the summit before us as a mark of respect, both for their age more for spirit! Hats off to them; we stood rooted to the ground, mesmerised, as they walked away into the horizon thru the last Torii. We never saw them again. Trust they did well and went home safely; wish God gives us all such fortitude and love.


Just before the peak there is a large Torii, which is a symbolic Shinto gate. It synbolises our achievement as having climbed up the mountain on to the summit. This is slightly larger than other Torii's we crossed along the way up.



THE Torii



The Final Torii - Kusushi-jinja

We summoned up all of our remaining energies and in one last burst, ran up the 30-odd steps to the Torii; only to realise that the crater is about 40 more.





 At the top is the rim of a crater of about 700 meters in diameter and 200 meters deep. The course for making a tour around this crater includes the Kengamine peak which is 3,776 meters above sea level and is the highest peak in Japan. This course is called 'Ohachi-meguri' because the crater at the top of Mt. Fuji is shaped like a 'hachi' , or a bowl. 


08:15 am, The Summit!

Elated at reaching the Crater!

 We were both overjoyed and relieved at completing the strenous but interestingly enjoyable task that took us all of 8 hours of gruelling grind. Though cold at about 8 deg.C, the Sun was sharp due to the thin air at this altitude.

We ventured gingerly to the edge and found remains of un-melted snow in the crater. Guess what? Mobile phones work here! Some refreshments later called our respective homes to announce the fact of having made it to The Highest Point in Japan.

At the top we came across the sacred Shinto Shrine; we prayed traditionally - by clapping our hands (in the namaste style), bowed and offered a few coins.

The resident Priest blessed us, stamped our climbing souvenir sticks. He chose to give me a lucky charm - a small wooden piece with kanji inscriptions and a tag. I felt truly blessed! This shrine was started by a priest Matsuda in 1149 AD.

Scores of shops selling anything from bells, curios, fridge magnets, picture postcards, t-shirts, even Volcanic rocks and anything else conceivable as a souvenir. Interestingly the volcanic rocks are everywhere on the Mountain and the hawker was making a fast buck as if it was something special! We picked up few for ourselves - though the rules say something to the contrary.
There are 8 peaks at the summit; connecting these peaks is a shape like the image of the Eternal Buddha Sakyamuni seated in the form of a lotus flower, which makes this tour all the more significant and symbolic for Religious persons. The distance is roughly 4 kms, and takes about 1 hour to complete the tour of Ohachi-meguri.

Post office A-top Mt



We skipped walking around the crater ('hachi') at the top, which can take over an hour, and bade farewell to Fuji-san.

The other-side of the crater has a functioning post-office, from where picture postcards can be sent, with a stamp saying that these were posted from the highest point in Japan. Some recognition that.


The last eruption around 1707 resulted in Tokyo being covered in 4" of ash and major destruction in the villages around.

Mt. Fuji also houses a warrior tradition: ancient samurai used the base of the mountain as a remote training area, near the present day town of Gotemba. But today, the Japan Self-Defence Forces and the United States Marine Corps operate military bases here.

The Descent:



Way down

The rest and sun refreshed us good. Slowly we picked up our stuff and started our descent at 11:00 am. While the way up was no joke, the way down is not a cake walk neither!

I was told that the descent is relatively easier and takes less than half the time taken to go up.

Initially the path was gravely, red soil+stone. Gradually it becase increasingly steep. The steep trail is made up of deep and loose gravel amd skating down on this is known as sunabashiri - running in the sand; a unique way of zig-zag pattern of novel and rapid mode of descent, somewhat between skiing and running without much stress to you or your legs. Somehow I could'nt get a hang of this technique.

There were others though who were furiously gliding away, even kids of no more than 5 yrs literally running down. I and few others tripped as if to give me company. This took away whatever courage we had.

Now started the most excruciating part; the shooting pain in the legs and feet. I felt as if my shoes suddenly shrunk and every step/slide was just torture; sensing my agony, our Japanese friend gifted me his walking stick that helped a little. At Hachi-gome, our other friend who chose to rest joined us. He looked in good shape and soon enough made rapid progress. We found puddles of snow tucked away into crevices, but dodnt interest us as we focussd hard at attempting a swift descent.

Steep incline

Every now and then at a large enough turn, we found reasons to rest. A minute 's rest was taking me into deep sleep. Our Japanese friend urged us to make it quick as it could get dark very quickly or start raining suddenly. The path is so trecherous, that walking in the hill-side could throw you off-balance; in the middle the path was very loose that we could slip; at the edge it was scary as athe incline was very cliff-like-steep and could land us in trouble.

As if to fuel our fears, the hill-climbing-ambulance made multiple trips down, carrying people with injuries. We were told that just the previous weekend couple of persons died of exhaustion or tumbling down! This made us to become more careful.

The descent does not follow the the route used for climbing upto 6th statiom and so no shops to buy anything. Meanwhile, ran out of drinking water adding to our misery.

At the Edge

4 pm: Reached 6th station. Scores of enthuiasts started to climb; as we went lower, the no of people increased into a swarm, leaving little or no place for people like us coming down. 

Somehow, we managed to drag ourselves down to the Go-Gome or the 5th Station. The gravel-ly path turned into stoney steps.

The sign that showed us up last night re-appeared announcing the end of our journey. We held eachother's hands, sort of supporting each other

5:00 pm: Completed. Fuji san was vanquished, our spirits soared, our bodies dead-tired.

We didnt realise how long the journey was to our Guesthouse as each of us crashed asleep, both in the car and inside our rooms. A quick hot bath, meal and off to sleep in a jiffy.

One particular interesting thing that we calmy noticed was that there was no live being all along the way up or down, other than of the human variety.

No dogs, cars or rats, or even bats, birds, no nothing! On our return we soaw something like 'poo' but didn't see any animals!

This journey was unique. The perfect cone shape view allures from afar; Fuji-san is not beautiful at a closer look; it is just a mountain, as we climbed it, like hundreds of others. But with pride and satisfaction of having accomplished without a wink and rest since leaving India two nights before.

None of us will forget this experience, never. Each of us will carry a tale to our families and for generations to come, Fuji-san will live on.