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Climb every mountain: Japan’s female mountaineers scale new heights

As hikers prepare to ascend Mount Fuji for the 2022 season, it’s worth celebrating the achievements of the country’s female mountaineers both above and below the clouds

In 2006, Yuka Komatsu became the first Japanese woman to climb K2. The 8,611-meter peak in the Karakoram range is the world’s second-highest mountain and considered one of the most dangerous. | COURTESY OF YUKA KOMATSU

By Mara Budgen
Contributing writer

Jul 4, 2022

In the fall of 1832, Tatsu Takayama reached the 3,776-meter summit of Mount Fuji, becoming the first woman on record to have scaled Japan’s highest peak.

“I want to encourage all women to climb the mountain,” she said before reaching the summit, according to historical accounts.

Takayama’s accomplishment wasn’t only an adventurous pursuit, but an act of defiance against rules known as nyonin kinsei, or pre-Meiji Era (1868-1912) customs that prohibited women from entering Japan’s sacred sites, some of which included mountains.

Climb every mountain: Japan’s female mountaineers scale new heights

As hikers prepare to ascend Mount Fuji for the 2022 season, it’s worth celebrating the achievements of the country’s female mountaineers both above and below the clouds

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