Walter Weston's guide to alpine activities in Japan during the 1930s.
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| The Fuji-Kawa Illustration from Walter Weston, The Playground of the Far East. |
The chief mountain ranges of Japan constitute no less than three-quarters of the total area, and in general formation consist of two main systems, the northern and the southern. The Northern runs south from Saghalin until it meets the Southern, which has entered from southern China and passed upwards through Formosa, and the two systems meet in the middle of the mainland of Japan. It is here, in the broadest part of the main island, that the wildest and deepest valleys are cleft and that the mountains rise to their loftiest heights in the ranges now known as Japanese Alps.
The meeting of these two systems has resulted in great geological upheavals, and a vast transverse fissure crosses the island through which a number of great volcanoes have burst their way. This fissure is known to geologists as the Fossa Magna, and forms a geological boundary between northern and southern Japan. The main features present marked contrasts, for while Northern Japan is comparatively low and open, the Southern division, especially in its central regions, exhibits the wildest and most romantic scenes in the county.
The chain of erupted peaks in the Fossa Magna forms the Fuji Volcanic Belt and is of great interest. It stretches southwards across Hondo (the "main island") from near Naoetsu on the Sea Japan, culminating in Fuji-San (or Fujiyama, san being the Chinese and yama the Japanese word for mountain). It then passes through the Hakone hills and the promontory of Izu into a curious island chain known as Shichito, "the Seven Islands of Izu." The most important of these peaks is Mitake, on the island of Oshima, familiar to travellers approaching Yokohama by sea from the west.
The main mass of the Japanese Alps lies between 35° and 37° N. latitude and the situation of its northern portion is almost identical with that of the Sierra Nevada of Spain. The south end of the range lies due west of Tokyo and Yokohama, from which it is readily approached. Both of these cities stand on the same latitude as Gibraltar and Malta. Its general outline and elevation are comparable to those of the Alpes Maritimes or of the Bergamasque Alps as viewed from the plains of Lombardy. An intimate acquaintance with its characteristic features justifies the observation of the late Lord Bryce that "there is probably not any other country that exhibits such an endless variety of natural beauty." The Japanese Alps include two main divisions which I have ventured to distinguish as the Northern and Southern Alps respectively; each has its own characteristic features.
The Northern range runs nearly southwards, from near Naoetsu, on the Sea of Japan, for upwards of 100 miles. It exhibits the greatest variety of form and outline. Great volcanoes, some as perfect cones, and others but shattered remnants of their original forms, alternate with granite peaks and towers, or the pointed porphyritic summits of an older age.
On the north-western limits, the cold winds from Siberia deposit the moisture over the warm currents in the Sea of Japan in the form of heavy snowfalls that frequently bury whole villages. Here, as in Hokkaido (Yezo) excellent skiing grounds may be found. No actual glaciers are seen at the present day, though on many of the highest ridges and in the more secluded ravines snow lies all the year round. In many of these districts snow-shoes and crampons known as Kana-kanjiki to the Japanese hunters and others using them are to be found.
Scattered all over the mountain ranges throughout Japan are numerous spas (onsen, or yuba) most frequently in the Northern Alps, at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. Some of these serve to determine the most popular climbing centres, since it is there that suitable accommodation is usually met with, and the waters have often considerable medicinal value. The best-known of these are Kamikōchi, Nakabusa, and Tateyama Onsen, all in the Northern Alps.
The Southern Alps mainly comprise an immense triangular mass about 50 miles in length enclosed by the famous rivers Tenryugawa on the west and Fuji-Kawa on the east, both of which empty themselves into the Pacific between Nagoya and Yokohama.
In this division there are none of the volcanoes that give variety to the northern range. But the mountain forms are more massive and Kita-dake (sometimes locally known as Kaigane, 10,534 feet) is the second highest peak in Japan proper.
This region is less familiar to mountaineers than the former, with its great forests and romantic glens. There are fewer onsen, and over hundreds of square miles hardly any human habitations are to be seen. This is the more noticeable, since the eastern foothills are not a day's journey west of Kōfu, one of the most progressive towns in Central Japan.
References
From Walter Weston's chapter on “Japan”, in Sydney Spencer (editor), Mountaineering: The Lonsdale Library Volume XVIII, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934.
