Katou buntaro biography samples

Now he started training in earnest, setting himself long road-marches all round the prefecture. Once he walked kilometres at a stretch, coming back to the dormitory at 2am. Sometimes he walked home to Hamasaka, on the opposite coast. In , he made his first foray to the mountains, a summer hike from Renge Onsen to Shirouma, followed by a Mt Fuji ascent.

Then the pace quickened. In May, when the Japan Alps are still deep in snow, he went to Tateyama and Tsurugi, using skis for the first time, and carried on to Yari and the Hodaka mountains. All these journeys were solo. He managed this feat in ten days, starting at Sarudani, climbing over Yakushi and descending to the Kurobe river, then crossing Eboshi-dake before returning to civilisation at Shinano-Ohmachi.

In February, he took in Kashimayari and Hari-no-ki, two more high peaks in the region. All the while, he was noting the behaviour of weather and snow — how, in mid-winter, a three-day cycle sets in, of sunshine, cloud, and storm — and how to read the cues, perhaps a slant of cold wind after a storm, that signal when it is safe to start out. Avalanches were intensively studied: when snow started falling, it was relatively warm and cohesive, he observed, but the temperature then dropped.

That meant that avalanches were most likely to come down right at the end of a storm. Well, Yari looms large in this story. It was to Yari that he headed in August , on his second summer trip to the Northern Alps. After striding across from Tsubakuro, he climbed the spire-like peak on the same afternoon. He came back the following year, in mid-October.

His new boots were too heavy, but at least they were good for kicking into the frozen snow on Yari. On the same day, he walked out over a pass to the village of Shimajima, getting there just before 10pm. Now he had the measure of autumn, he felt ready to tackle the snows of spring. In May , he visited the Yari-Hodaka range for the first time on skis.

A few years later, he was confident enough on skis to head for Yari in mid-winter. Avalanches roared down from the sunward slopes as he entered Yari-sawa. On Yari itself, his crampons bit well into the hard snow; he preferred snow-work to rock. Next day, an unstructured situation developed. On Oku-Hodaka, the highest peak in the massif, a blasting gale froze his eyes half-shut and he backed off — too late.

Night fell as he was still skiing down the snowbowl of Karesawa, where a treacherous crust tripped him up at every turn. At 8pm, he picked a bivvy site beside a rock. This time, a colleague, Yoshida Tomihisa, came with him. The abandonment of his solo ethos was not the only change in his life. Now he came home every day to a real house instead of the grim company dormitory.

Soon he had a baby daughter to greet too. They tackled the North Ridge to Mae-Hodaka, tunnelling their way up through a snow-filled chimney. Marriage may have mellowed him, or he felt the need for a rope partner to tackle more difficult routes. If so, he might well have concluded that climbers could only succeed there as part of a strong team.

British expeditions had recently returned to Everest, after the decade-long lapse that followed the deaths of Mallory and Irvine in Their immediate plan was to traverse the Kita-kama, the serious and committing ridge that extends north of Yari. A blizzard was raging when they woke the next day, forcing them to weigh their summit chances against their dwindling stock of food and annual leave.

After breakfast, they went out into the driving snow and started up the ice-encrusted rocks. The manga deeply resonates with readers, leaving a lasting and impactful impression. Furthermore, the manga is widely acclaimed for its realistic portrayal of the technical elements of mountain climbing. It stresses the importance of proper preparation and also brings attention to the potential hazards that can arise from errors.

Katou buntaro biography samples

The meticulous attention to detail in these aspects only enhances its commendable depiction. It delves beneath the surface, showcasing the power of resilience and fearlessly addressing obstacles. Is it known what happened to them exactly, have you perhaps, already translated it for us? Somehow i have a feeling, that the two were not the real partner, sir.

If they were they were still with us, i am sure. By the way, Earth-o-centric, I like that, perhaps Earth-istic would work well too to your Images and Ink series. Good or not, less poetic than Katos records Anonymous: glad you found the post, ah, of reference. No, I don't think anybody knows exactly what happened to Kato and Yoshida on January 3, Yari is steep and exposed at the top and any winter ascent, even in good weather, requires care - see the photos in "Life and death on the Matterhorn of Japan".

To go up there in a snowstorm and attempt to downclimb the yet steeper north side - in January - would be extremely testing. Also, lee slopes up there in winter are notorious avalanche traps. It's a world of hurt Great post. Rang through to me, even if my mountaineering efforts are, hmmm, few to non-existant I blame it on the absence of mountains in southern Finland!

However, I can relate to it also as a backpacker and packrafter. Going on my own, while more risky, enables me to take more in, go faster, further and see more wildlife. While this usually is less dangerous than mountaineering, both hiking and packrafting can be dangerous on your own there's enough tales of lone hikers going missing. Great writing, great story!

The all-consuming desire to get into the hills and mountains, regardless of whether I had a companion who wanted to come or whether I had the skills to do it alone. If you're weak, you'll be tormented; crushed. The strong will grow stronger and flourish. So, soloists, be strong! Alone, in bad weather, self-doubt begins to creep in and take over - whereas your decision making process may be perfect and accurate, that self-doubt makes you question your decisions and make new ones.

You cannot then, easily, go back to a discarded thought process. So it all comes down to something I realised not long ago - there is no harm in taking courses, especially when you ratchet your endeavours up a notch and go from hills to mountains - from hillwalking to mountaineering. It turns out that he's basically a freeloading bum.

He tricks people into thinking he made an impressive climb without outside help, steals Buntarou's money and runs off, and hasn't done anything meaningful with his life at all since Buntarou last saw him. He never went to France and could have been close by the entire time. Career-Ending Injury : Buntarou successfully climbs and returns from the summit of K2 but the injuries he's incurred from the experience have effectively killed any hopes of continuing his career as a mountain climber.

In the epilogue, we see that just hiking up a steep hill has become incredibly taxing for him and it takes all his energy merely to get to the top of a small boulder. Unlike many examples however, this isn't played for tragedy but rather, satisfaction at no longer needing such extreme sports to be happy with his life. Cast of Snowflakes : Gradually transitions into this trope as the art gets better.

Central Theme : No matter how hard you try to shut yourself away from people, you will not be able to escape society or having to make connections with others. No man is an island onto himself after all. Cerebus Syndrome : The story has a very sharp change in tone and writing style after Buntarou's teacher Onishi dies , morphing from what appears to be a typical idealistic high school sports series about Buntarou learning to trust other people via the climbing club, into a more cynical and psychological character drama that explores Buntarou's difficulties with pursuing mountain climbing while having to navigate a society he doesn't feel comfortable in or wants to be a part of.

Character Development : Most notably with Buntarou, who starts the series as an extremely introverted and lethargic loner and ends up as a much more well-adjusted and functional family man. Coming of Age Story : The main focus of the manga is Buntarou struggling to pursue mountain climbing and all the challenges he faces as someone who wants to be alone, and finding that escaping from society and being a "solo climber" in life isn't really all that easy.

Cool Old Guy : The climbing store owner. Cute Sports Club Manager : Subverted. Yumi appears to be a straightforward example of this, but the controversy surrounding the climbing club leads to it shutting down. With her reputation ruined in the aftermath, Yumi turns to prostitution to pay the bills. Disappeared Dad : Niimi's father abandoned him and his mother after being ostracized and publicly shamed shamed for the climbing incident he was involved in.

He eventually becomes this to his own son Keiji after he dies in the Alps training climb, leaving his girlfriend Momo to raise him by herself with some help from Buntarou. Doom Magnet : One of Mori's main sources of grief and a big reason why he wants to be alone is that the people he involves himself with tend to have bad things happen to them; Miyamoto quits school and becomes a bum, Yumi has her reputation ruined and becomes a prostitute, the entire expedition team for the K2 East Face ends up dying, and by the end his kohai Takemura dies as well.

It's eventually subverted with Hana and Rokka. Early-Installment Weirdness : The first few volumes are similar to a lot of sports shounen despite being serialized in a seinen magazine with a loner protagonist joining a school club, introducing his rival, a potential love triangle with the Cute Sports Club Manager , and most of the other trappings you'd expect.

It isn't until volume 4 that the series morphs into the more unique psychological drama that it's known as. Extreme Doormat : Mori is so lethargic and awkward that he's frequently used by people, and even when falsely accused he says very little to defend himself. Friendless Background : Niimi was too preoccupied with mountain climbing to make friends, and he was seemingly ostracized due to his father's reputation anyways.