Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => Health and Nutrition => Topic started by: Emile on October 07, 2025, 10:01:10 PM
-
This 102-Year-Old Man Just Became the Oldest Person on Record to Summit Japan’s Mount Fuji
Kokichi Akuzawa is an experienced climber who trained for his journey up the mountain by walking for one hour every morning
(https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/AU7a-EYnhB-yXQ4smWS9wnajBjw=/fit-in/160x80/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/headshot/Sonja_headshot.png)
Sonja Anderson (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/author/sonja-anderson/) - Daily Correspondent
August 22, 2025
(https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/udXUgM1Ph_HhcyFT-MUkiu8ZF1M=/577x385/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/df/8e/df8e5876-89c4-40fb-b6f8-5c4eec3332e6/kokichi-climbing-mount-fuji.jpeg)
The 102-year-old climber was assisted by his 70-year-old daughter on the journey. Guinness World Records
A 102-year-old Japanese man just became the oldest person ever to climb Mount Fuji. With the assistance of his friends and daughter, Kokichi Akuzawa recently scaled the 12,388-foot (https://www.britannica.com/place/Mount-Fuji) peak—the tallest in Japan.
Akuzawa is an experienced mountain climber. As the honorary chairman of the Gunma Mountaineering Club, he has climbed mountains almost weekly, according to a statement (https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2025/8/102-year-old-fights-back-from-heart-failure-to-become-oldest-person-to-summit-mount-fuji) from Guinness World Records’ Masakazu Senda. In 2022, to celebrate his 99th birthday, Akuzawa climbed Mount Nabewariyama (https://trip.pref.kanagawa.jp/destination/mount-nabewariyama/1979), a 4,177-foot peak outside Tokyo.
Quick fact: Mount Fuji’s last eruption
The mountain is considered an active volcano, though it hasn’t erupted since 1707 (https://www.britannica.com/place/Mount-Fuji).
Akuzawa had already scaled Mount Fuji a few years earlier, when he was 96. Since then, he’s suffered a fall, heart failure and a case of the shingles. Still, Akuzawa decided to climb Fuji one last time.
On the morning of August 3, Akuzawa started up the easiest of the mountain’s four routes—a journey that takes the average climber six hours. As Backpacker (https://www.backpacker.com/news-and-events/102-year-old-hiker-oldest-to-summit-mt-fuji/)’s Emma Veidt reports, the least challenging route still features some 5,800 feet of vertical elevation gain. Known as the Yoshida trail, it is the mountain’s most popular (https://www.fujisan-climb.jp/en/trails/mountain-trails-index.html) route, and it’s equipped with many mountainside huts, five shops and three first-aid stations. Akuzawa stretched his journey over three days, spending two nights on the trail.
(https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/TUw0leqEmXVnTqSieUlh1CiOJNI=/fit-in/1072x0/filters:focal(342x195:343x196)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/0c/ee/0cee16f0-a1aa-4a69-95eb-3f86882ec93c/kokichi-climbing-rocky-terrain.jpeg)
Akuzawa stayed in huts for two nights during the journey. Guinness World Records
“It was tough, and it felt a lot different to the last time I climbed it,” says Akuzawa in the statement. “I’m amazed that I made it to the top.”
In the months before his climb, Akuzawa got in shape by waking up early each day to walk for an hour, as well as climbing other mountains, according to Guinness World Records. During most of his actual climb, the weather was fair. But the temperature got colder near the top of the mountain, where atmospheric pressure and oxygen also decrease. Akuzawa wanted to give up on the third day, but his daughter Motoe, 70, encouraged him to keep going, one step at a time. Akuzawa reached the summit at 11 a.m. on August 5.
(https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/7hUxoi1L6l4btFFKbr2QAzfz-uo=/fit-in/1072x0/filters:focal(1936x1309:1937x1310)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/92/eb/92ebbfcb-3311-435a-9d55-41eca2fccafd/lake_kawaguchiko_sakura_mount_fuji_4.jpeg) Mount Fuji is 12,388 feet tall. Midori via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 3.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_Kawaguchiko_Sakura_Mount_Fuji_4.JPG)
“I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help,” Akuzawa says in the statement. “I’m feeling pleased now.”
Located southwest of Tokyo, Mount Fuji is “considered the sacred symbol of Japan,” per Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/place/Mount-Fuji). The mountain features in many iconic artworks, such as Hokusai’s woodblock print series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (https://www.taschen.com/en/books/art/01194/hokusai-thirty-six-views-of-mount-fuji/); it also occupies the background of The Great Wave (https://www.artic.edu/artworks/24645/under-the-wave-off-kanagawa-kanagawa-oki-nami-ura-also-known-as-the-great-wave-from-the-series-thirty-six-views-of-mount-fuji-fugaku-sanjurokkei), the most famous image from that collection.
(https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/oLAethUXZQsFCNEkIR9PnEKmgoc=/fit-in/1072x0/filters:focal(1930x1305:1931x1306)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/97/f9/97f97eae-6f70-4b77-9623-023e9b5aabf3/tsunami_by_hokusai_19th_century.jpg) Mount Fuji can be seen in the background of Hokusai’s The Great Wave. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tsunami_by_hokusai_19th_century.jpg)
The record for the oldest climber to summit Mount Fuji has been set several times in the past few decades. Teiichi Igarashi, 99, became the oldest person to summit the mountain in 1986 (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-07-21-mn-26427-story.html). In 1994 (https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/08/11/Japans-Mt-Fuji/8767758076530/), Ichijiro Araya summited the mountain at 100 years and 258 days old. Now, Akuzawa has done it at the age of 102 years and 51 days.
Akuzawa was awarded an official Guinness World Records certificate. He says he has no interest in climbing the mountain again in the future.
“If you ask me next year, maybe you’ll get a different answer,” he adds. “But for now, I’m happy with that climb.”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-102-year-old-man-just-became-the-oldest-person-on-record-to-summit-japans-mount-fuji-180987223/
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcMjcNark8I
-
I met an old later in her early 80s who said she never felt better after doing regular training/exercise. It's possible to be fit at any age (depending on circuмstances). Very good
-
The Japanese are fit, bright and often live over a hundred years. What is it about them? Is it the raw fish?
-
The Japanese are fit, bright and often live over a hundred years. What is it about them? Is it the raw fish?
Homogenous society with their own culture (somewhat but used to be a lot more). Of course many japs are not fit, bright and live over 100. Usually it's the people who live rurally and drink green tea with light exercise.
-
The Japanese are fit, bright and often live over a hundred years. What is it about them? Is it the raw fish?
It’s diet, metabolism, good genes, social support, absence of stress, country life in nature, slower pace of life, having mastery over one’s thoughts and emotions. They meditate. I’m not suggesting what they m dictate on is good, but the physical benefits are obviously.
Compare the life of the amazing gentleman and his daughter to the Japanese who live in the cities. The 996 work expectation is resulting in “karoshi,” early death from overwork. Since the vast majority of Japanese live, go to school, and work grueling hours, the average lifespan has gone steadily downward. The ѕυιcιdє rate, always a factor in Japan, is rising. ѕυιcιdєs in the past we’re mainly in reparation for bringing shame on others. Now, it is just like the west, out of despair.