Japanese Alps
Japanese Alps | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Peak | Mount Kita[1] |
Elevation | 3,193 m (10,476 ft) |
Coordinates | 35°40′27″N 138°14′12″E / 35.67417°N 138.23667°E |
Dimensions | |
Length | 200 km (120 mi) |
Width | 40 km (25 mi) |
Naming | |
Native name | |
Geography | |
Location | Niigata Prefecture, Toyama Prefecture, Yamanashi Prefecture, Nagano Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, Shizuoka Prefecture |
Country | Japan |
The Japanese Alps (日本アルプス, Nihon Arupusu) is a series of mountain ranges in Japan which bisect the main island of Honshu. The peaks that tower over central Honshu have long been the object of veneration and pilgrimage. These mountains had long been exploited by local people for raw materials, including timber, fuel, fertilizer, fodder, meat, minerals, and medicines. Most visitors came to the mountain for pilgrimage, especially to the Buddhist temple and the sacred peak of Mount Tate.
The name was coined by English archaeologist William Gowland, and later popularized by Reverend Walter Weston (1861–1940), an English missionary for whom a memorial plaque is located at Kamikōchi, a tourist destination known for its alpine climate. When Gowland coined the phrase, he was only referring to the Hida Mountains, but it now also applies to the Kiso Mountains and Akaishi Mountains.[2]
History
The Japanese Alps has a long history before
Even now, it is very difficult to cross the steep Hida mountains, one of the world's heaviest snowfall areas, in winter. Therefore, it is considered a historical event in Japan that in the winter of 1584,
However, these Hida Mountains surveys did not seem to have been inherited by modern Japanese mountaineers who trekked through the mountains as a sport. As Kojima Usui later recalled, “in those days,... no one knew even the names of the mountains, much less their locations or elevations. To go mountaineering was literally to strike out into the unknown country.”[5]
The first modern geological survey sheets were issued in 1890. The report mentioned major peaks, but the topography was mostly guesswork. From 1891, foreign travelers were able to find useful information in Basil Hall Chamberlain and W.B. Mason's Handbook for Travellers in Japan. However, for decades, the Japanese were climbing these mountains without a comparable guidebook. Japanese people did physical exploration over a decade in the 1890s. They divided the mountains into (north, central, and south) depending on how they were conventionally grouped. William Gowland, an English geologist, first thought of this swath of terrain as forming a single coherent landscape, comparable to the European Alps. Gowland's view was further developed by another Englishman and Christian missionary, Walter Weston, who was able “to canonize Gowland's geographical conception, deploying it as a de facto proper noun”.[5]
Gowland explored several parts of the ranges in the 1860s, being the first documented foreigner to climb two peaks in the Alps, Mount Yari and Mount Norikura. Gowland was an archaeologist, and he explored these ranges for archaeological reasons. While Gowland was the first foreigner to explore the ranges, Reverend Walter Weston, a Christian missionary, was the first foreigner to document his experiences.
About twenty years after Gowland's explorations, Weston explored the ranges himself with Gowland's notes on his explorations.[6] Weston was led up many mountains by Kamijō kamonji, a mountain guide living in Kamikōchi.[7] Weston explored the same ranges that Gowland previously traversed, and ascended the Mount Shirouma, Mount Jōnen, Mount Kasa, Mount Hotaka, and other minor mountains.[6]
Weston first documented the two main mountain systems distinguishable by geological structure. The first of these he called the "China system" due to its connection with southeast China from just south of the Japanese archipelago. The second was called the "Karafuto system", due to the fact that it enters Japan from
In 1907, Yoshitaro Shibasaki and others succeeded in climbing Mount Tsurugi, which is said to be the last unexplored peak in Japan and the most difficult to climb. On this occasion, they found the ornaments of a metal shugenja's cane and a sword on the top of the mountain. A scientific investigation later confirmed that the ornaments of the cane and the sword were from the late Nara period to the early Heian period. It turned out that Mount Tsurugi had already been climbed by shugenja more than 1,000 years ago.[8]
From the 1960s to the 1970s, the transportation infrastructure of the Japanese Alps was improved, and access to some popular mountain areas became dramatically easier, increasing not only climbers but also tourists. The Komagatake Ropeway opened in 1967,[9] the Shinhotaka Ropeway opened in 1970,[10] and the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route fully opened in 1971.[11]
Ranges
Today, the Japanese Alps encompass the
Northern Alps
The Northern Alps, also known as the Hida Mountains, stretch through Nagano, Toyama and Gifu prefectures. A small portion of the mountains also reach into Niigata Prefecture. It includes the mountains Mount Norikura, Mount Yake, Mount Kasa, Mount Hotaka, Mount Yari, Mount Jōnen, Mount Washiba, Mount Suisho, Mount Yakushi, Mount Kurobegorō, Mount Tate, Mount Tsurugi, Kashima Yarigatake (鹿島槍ヶ岳), Goryū dake (五竜岳), Mount Shirouma, etc.
Central Alps
The Central Alps, also known as the
Southern Alps
The Southern Alps, also known as the
Glaciers
Geographers previously believed that no active glaciers existed in Japan. The Japanese Society of Snow and Ice[12] found this to be false in May 2012. By studying surface flow velocity and snow patches in Mount Tsurugi, they found that certain perennial snow patches have large masses of ice, upwards of 30 meters in thickness. This causes these snow patches to be classified as active glaciers, and as of 2019 there are seven active glaciers in the Japanese Alps, and all of Japan.[13]
See also
References
- ^ Geographical Survey Institute map 25000:1 仙丈ヶ岳 accessed online 8 April 2008.
- ^ "Japanese Alps | mountains, Japan".
- Matsumoto City.
- ^ a b Hiroshi Yonehara. 新川郡における「山廻役」と「奥山廻リ」についての一考察. Tateyama Museum
- ^ Project MUSE 178069.
- ^ a b c Walter Weston (1896). Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps. J. Murray.
- ^ Kamikochi. Kamikochi Resort Hotel Association.
- ^ 銅錫杖頭附鉄剣(剣岳発見). Agency for Cultural Affairs.
- ^ Komagatake Ropeway
- ^ Shinhotaka Ropeway
- ^ Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
- ^ The Japanese Society of Snow and Ice
- ^ 北アルプス唐松沢を氷河に認定 流動を確認、国内7番目. The Asahi Shimbun. October 7, 2019
Further reading
- McCarry, Charles (August 1984). "The Japan Alps". OCLC 643483454.
External links
- Japan Alps 7 Cities Tourism
- Media related to Japanese Alps at Wikimedia Commons