＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
Yuichiro Miura, 86, was attempting to climb Aconcagua (6,960.8m), the highest peak in South America, but gave up on the climb on January 21, 2019. Aconcagua is a difficult challenge with a 30% success rate.
At a press conference before the departure, he expressed his enthusiasm, saying, “If it doesn’t work out, I’ll give up, but if I push myself to my limits and reach the summit, there’s nothing more satisfying than that.” He also expressed his gratitude for the support of the climbing team, saying, “I think of this as the ultimate elderly care mountain climbing.”
He has a message to the young athletes who will be competing in the Tokyo Olympics, saying, “2020 is just around the corner. I hope I can inspire the Japanese athletes as they challenge to be the best in the world.”
The media has praised it, saying it “gives hope to middle-aged and elderly people” and “a courageous retreat,” but to me it seems like “a cold shower for the elderly” and “a reckless performance by stubborn old people” with no regard for the inconvenience it causes to others.
１．About Yuichiro Miura
Yuichiro Miura (1932- ) is a professional skier and mountaineer. His father Keizo Miura was also a mountain skier, his eldest son Yudai Miura is a competitive skier, and his second son Gota Miura is a freestyle skiing mogul skier who competed in the Lillehammer and Nagano Winter Olympics, making it a “skiing family.”
He participated in the just-started World Professional Ski Championships in the United States in 1962 and finished ranked 8th in the world.
In 1966, he succeeded in “gliding down Mount Fuji.” It is said that the image of the parachute he used as a “brake” at that time was the inspiration for the development of the “paraglider.”
In 1970, he skied down from the 8,000m South Col of Everest.
After that, his unhealthy lifestyle took its toll on him, leading to an unhealthy condition that even led to arrhythmia.
But he made up his mind, and in 2003 he became the oldest person in the world (Guinness World Record) to summit Mt. Everest, the world’s highest peak, at the age of 70 years and 7 months.
In 2008, he successfully climbed Mt. Everest again at the age of 75, and in 2013, at the age of 80, he reached the summit for the third time.
Although Yuichiro Miura has such a brilliant record, I think it would be better if he doesn’t push himself any further…
２．The life of the protagonist in Jiro Nitta’s (1912-1980) novel “The Solitary Man”
The model for the protagonist of “Kokou no Hito” is mountaineer Buntaro Kato (1905-1936).
He graduated from the night school of Hyogo Prefectural Technical School while working at the Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Works (later Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) in Kobe.
He started mountain climbing at around the age of 18, and made the “traverse of Mt. Rokko” many times on his days off.
He would leave his home in Suma early in the morning, traverse Mt. Rokko, descend to Takarazuka, and then walk back to his home in Suma that same day – a journey of an astounding 100km.
From around the age of 23, he began to climb many peaks in the Japanese Alps alone during the snowy season, and he quickly became famous as “Kato the Solo Climber” and “Immortal Kato.”
However, when he was 30 years old, at the request of a fellow climber he had known for several years, the two of them attempted to climb the Kitakama Ridge of Mt. Yari, but they were caught in a severe snowstorm and were lost in the Tenjosawa valley.
It seems that Buntaro Kato “finished his work properly and then devoted himself to his favorite activity of mountain climbing,” “he did not seek fame or fortune,” and “he preferred to trek alone, without the help of others.” I find his way of life and beliefs very appealing.
I believe that Yuichiro Miura was, of course, a great mountaineer, but I feel a strong sense of empathy for the way that Buntaro Kato lived his life.