Kokichi Akuzawa, born in 1923, reached the summit of Japan’s highest peak after months of coaching that included climbing a mountain practically each week.
A 102-year-old Japanese man with a critical coronary heart situation has turn into the oldest particular person to climb Mount Fuji, a feat licensed by Guinness World Data — although he dismissed the achievement as nothing exceptional.
Kokichi Akuzawa, born in 1923, reached the summit of Japan’s highest peak earlier this month after months of coaching, which included mountaineering a mountain nearly each week.
“I’m six years older than the final time I climbed,” Akuzawa advised AFP, recalling his earlier ascent of the three,776-metre (12,388-foot) peak on the age of 96. “I’ve been there and seen the view many instances — it wasn’t something particular. I reached the summit final time too.”
A retired farmer, mountaineering fanatic
A retired livestock farmer from Gunma prefecture, Akuzawa can be an avid hiker, volunteers at a senior care centre and teaches portray.
His preparation for the climb started after a troublesome yr through which he tripped whereas mountaineering close to his dwelling in January, then suffered shingles and was hospitalised with coronary heart failure.
“The restoration was so quick that his medical doctors couldn’t imagine it,” his 75-year-old daughter, Yukiko, advised AFP. Regardless of household considerations, Akuzawa was decided to make the climb.
To regain power, he took hour-long walks each morning and continued weekly mountain hikes. For Mount Fuji, he unfold the climb over three days, staying in huts in a single day. Excessive altitude practically pressured him to give up, however with help from his journey companions — together with a nurse granddaughter — he pushed by way of to the summit, Yukiko mentioned.
When requested if he plans to climb Mount Fuji once more, Akuzawa’s response was a agency “no.”