Climbing Fuji – The Yoshida Guchi Trail
At the Summit with the crater behind me
A month ago our expedition was thawted by a typhoon that rolled through Japan. This time nothing was going to stop us from conquering the highest peak in Japan – Fuji-san. Most people who want to say they’ve stood on the roof of Japan start from the half way mark at the 5th Station; Zurui! Not us. The real way to climb a Mt Fuji is from the bottom.
And so we set off from the Fuji Yoshida Sengen Jinga, which gave us a special feeling of ritual before our ascent. We collected some Dragon Water from the honourable dragon at the foot of the shrine, which no doubt would boost our strength and stamina to super human levels.
Dragon Water at the Sengen Shrine
The road soon gave way to a bush track. We regularly passed the lower huts of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th stations which were used in the past on this historical path, but which now lie delapidated. (The masses skip these parts to bus up to Go-gome, 5th Station). It’s a tranquil walk without the more challenging slope that lies ahead. I saw a wild deer, we stopped a few times to talk to the few people we came across and left some peanuts at the monkey shrine. At about 2000 metres we ghosted into the clouds… ‘it was like walking in soup’.
Walking in clouds, climbing Mt Fuji from the bottom.
When we poked our heads out of the clouds the bush had thinned and we could see the slope of Fuji steepen. This was the 5th station and the start of a slightly ugly part of the Fuji trek. A land moving project was erecting unsightly barriers and widening paths. Night was falling when we reached our 7th Station hut. It was 7:00pm and we’d been climbing since 1:30pm, when we’d arrived by Bullet Train and bus. We tucked down some curry rice, then stepped over sleeping trekkers to our futons and closed our eyes for a few hours. But just a few.
2:00am and we were back on the trail, this time with head torches. We pressed on towards the summit, hoping for a beautiful sunrise. Sometimes our legs fatigued and heads dropped. But every time we looked up again a sea of stars gleamed back. The effort was worthwhile and became more so when I glanced over my shoulder at about 4:00am. A beautiful pre-dawn light began to reach out over a thin carpet of cloud.
Hinode, sunrise from Fuji-san
As the light became stronger, so too the summit nearer, and crowds of hikers heavier. We passed under a Torii gate with about 100 metres to the summit then we hit a log jam. It was from here Jeff, Andre and I witnessed the suns arrival. Coos of sugoi! sugoi! rang round the mountain. The volcanic rocks radiated red down to the tree line thousands of metres below.
With the patience of a saint I inched closer to the summit. It crossed my mind that this is a mountain and it wouldn’t be difficult to branch off the path to avoid the ridiculous climber congestion.
Fuji-san, Torii Gates and the rocks turn red.
But finally I stepped through the final Torii gate with the immense satisfaction of having climbed Fuji on its time honoured trail. Basic huts with stones loaded on their roofs for the wind greated us at the top. And behold was my first surprise: Its true, there is a vending machine on the top of Fuji-san.
Jeff and I peered into the deep crater and began to make our way around to the real summit on the other side. Andre held back feeling the effects of altitude at 3776 metres. I was just feeling the effects of eating too many nuts. Part way round was surprise number 2: A post office on the top of Fuji. And so I wrote… ‘dear mum and dad…’
Click for Mt Fuji Crater Panorama.
At the real summit we said ‘Cheeeezu’ for the camera. We took our time to amble round the crater and enjoy the view inside and out. An interesting project was happening on this day: Fuji Dream. We were interviewed quickly on camera saying something like ‘Peace to World Peace!!’ (it was early remember). Thousands of people had written their dreams on material that was sewn together and laid out for kilometers around the crater.
Andre, Jeff and myself, smiling at the start and still smiling at the end. Right boys?
What goes up must come down. And so chanting our matra of ‘beer and onsen, beer and onsen’ we wound our way down the mountain. The gravel on the downward path was softer and looser, so was a small blessing for our knees. I was thankful too that my pack was lighter after drinking 6 litres of water and a ton of trail mix on the way up. By the time we had arrived at the 5th Station buses we calculated we had been on the mountain exactly 24hours. Dreams can come true; we were soon soaking in an Onsen and cleaning volcanic grit out of our ears. We ordered beers and clinked a KAMPAI! to our successful climb.
*More photos in my Photolog
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