A meizanologist's diary (2)

October 9: to Daishōji, the birthplace of the Hyakumeizan author, to hear a slide presentation by Tanaka Yōki. The self-styled adventure racer is the first and only person to have completed a round of Fukada Kyuya’s one hundred mountains of Japan “by fair means” only – that is, entirely on foot, except for the sea crossings, for which he used a sea kayak.

More recently, he’s completed the second 100 mountains of Japan – that is the Hyakumeizan 200, less the ones he climbed before – again on foot and by kayak. The strait between Wakkanai on the Hokkaido mainland and Rishiri island alone took ten hours. Altogether, Tanaka covered more than 7,800 kilometres and climbed 110,000 metres, solely on human power.

There’s a brief outline of his original journey on this blog, and more detail on the second 100-mountain “Great Traverse 2” on an NHK website (in Japanese). By way of conclusion, Tanaka said he wanted to live an “arigato to ieru jinsei” – a life to be grateful for. Or should that be a life filled with gratitude? Either way, it sounds like a good way to live.