Climbing season begins with "mountain opening" day

Each year in Japan, July 1st is "mountain opening" day or really just the start of the official season or what we might call mountain climbing season in English.  In other words, the day that the general public is allowed to climb the mountain for the first time that year. It is also called "kaizan" (opening of the mountain). The day is most associated with Mt Fuji, but it is the overall general start to the season too.

However, in saying that, some mountains go by their own dates which may fall before or after July 1st. Moreover, it is usually only the Yamanashi side of Mt Fuji that opens July 1st and the other trails, open about a week to ten days later. The Mt Fuji season finished September 10th for all trails.

With Mt Fuji 'opening' today, it was a hot topic on social media and on the news. News reports on the television tonight showed climbers woefully unprepared to climb a mountain as large as Mt Fuji. They showed a foreign man in sandals and a Japanese man in crocs. Each year, I am amazed by the amount of people who think they can climb Mt Fuji as if it were just a hill.

One of the quintessentially Japanese rituals of the official opening of the season is the Shinto ceremony they carry out. Each year on the morning of the first the ceremony is carried out at the base of Mt Fuji, on the Yamanashi side, to pray for the safety of climbers.