Tohoku – Susan Spann, Adventure, Mystery, and Mountains

CHAPTER 11: The Mountain Wants to Be Climbed

Susan Spann 1000 Summits, Blog, CLIMB Photo Companion September 15, 2020September 17, 2020bandai, bandaisan, Climb, hiking, hiking in Japan, Mt. Bandai, Tohoku

Mt. Bandai: June 15, 2018 The images in this photo supplement follow the events in Chapter 11 of CLIMB: Leaving Safe and Finding Strength on 100 Summits in Japan. The captions offer “extra features”: information that didn’t make it into the book. This decorative horse, in the lobby of my hotel near Mt. Bandai, is made in the style of traditional wooden horse carvings that originated in the Tōhōku region. The motif carried through the entire property; the onsen (volcanic hot spring bath) even had small cypress horses floating in it. My first glimpse of Mt. Bandai, out the window of

Chapter 8: Horses’ Bells and Dragons’ Eyes*

Susan Spann 1000 Summits, Blog, CLIMB Photo Companion August 17, 2020August 23, 2020100 Summits, Climb, Hachimantai, hiking in Japan, hyakumeizan, Japan, Japanese mountains, Kizuna Festival, Mt. Hachimantai, Tohoku, Tohoku Kizuna Festival, Tohoku Rokkonsai Matsuri

Morioka City is the capital of Iwate Prefecture, in the Tōhōku region of northern Honshu (Japan’s largest island). I arrived at Morioka Station via shinkansen (bullet train) on the morning of June 3, intending to spend my rest day exploring the city and learning a little about the people and culture of Tōhōku–although I had no definite plans. Little did I know . . .

Snow on Mount Hachimantai (Hyakumeizan #5)

Susan Spann 1000 Summits, Blog June 4, 2018June 4, 2018#100Summits, 100 Summits, climbs, hiking, hyakumeizan, Japan, Tohoku

On Monday afternoon (Japan time), I climbed my fifth hyakumeizan — Mount Hachimantai, in Iwate Prefecture. The mountain sits in Towada-Hachimantai National Park, about 2 hours by bus from Morioka City. For reasons I’ll discuss in more detail in my book, 100 SUMMITS (Prometheus Books, 2020), I opted to ride the bus to the “Hachimantai Summit” visitor center, which sits only about a 45 minute hike from the mountain’s actual summit.

Climbing Mt. Iwaki

Susan Spann 1000 Summits, Blog June 1, 2018#100Summits, 100 Summits, adventure, Aomori, climbing, hiking, hyakumeizan, Iwaki, Japan, mountains, Tohoku

Today, I climbed Mt. Iwaki in Aomori Prefecture – my first Tohoku hyakumeizan. Tohoku is the northernmost part of Japan’s largest island, Honshu – the same island where Tokyo and Kyoto are located, but many hours’ travel to the north, via shinkansen (bullet train). It took me almost 7 hours to travel from Tokyo to Hirosaki, the closest town to Mt. Iwaki – four hours on a high-speed shinkansen, and another 2:45 on a local train. These mountains are spread all across Japan, which means I get to travel the entire length of the country while I’m climbing.