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Chichibu-Tama-Kai NP, Nagano
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At Kujira-iwa (“Whale Rock”), one of Japan’s best-known early boulder problems is “Captain Ahab”—a Moby-Dick wink. The boulder now has 23 problems, ranging from grade 9 to 2-dan.
Climbers call these crags “Ogawayama,” but the peak with that name lies far away on the main ridge. The climbing playground is the granite outcrops around Mawari-me-daira and Nishimata Stream—a nickname that stuck.
Mawari-me-daira’s water serves far beyond the campsite: Japan’s Forestry Agency says the local source supplies 4,011 people and irrigation for 1,922 hectares, supporting Kawakami’s highland vegetable fields.
An early-Meiji map shows a road from Kawabata-shimo over Mt. Kinpu into Kai. The archive also records local memory of nearby gold mines and Sengoku-era bustle nicknamed “Kawabata-shimo Senken”—“a thousand houses.”
In 1986, Mara Rock’s “Excellent Power” became Japan’s first route graded 5.13a, a landmark in the country’s free-climbing history. Its line links 2 earlier routes, “Silk Road” and “Rocky Road.”
A classic climb on Mara Rock, “Kawakami Kouta,” shares its name with the village song. Created around 1948 with lyrics by local resident Yoshizawa Yoshinori, the tune celebrates white birches and the Chikuma River.
Mara-iwa’s upright outline inspired its decidedly cheeky name. Nearby, Imouto-iwa means “Little Sister Rock”—a playful pairing among the granite crags around Mawari-me-daira.
Climbers have a stormy origin story for the Victor boulder: a local legend says it rolled into the Hachiman-zawa confluence in a typhoon, after Ogawayama’s climbing development had begun.
