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Joshin’etsukogen NP, Gunma
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Gunma-born Yasujiro Yajima trained Tibetan troops and served as a personal guard to the 13th Dalai Lama. A 2023 exhibit here included 30 photos, a shipboard self-portrait, and 200+ Tibet-related books.
In 2024, this museum received gear from the closed Yamada Noboru Himalaya Museum, including the suit he wore when he died on Denali in 1989. Yamada had climbed 9 of the 14 eight-thousanders and K2 without bottled oxygen.
A certificate here marks July 2 as Tanigawa Day, honoring the first recorded modern traverse in 1920. Fujishima and Mori went with local guide Masakichi Kenmochi on trails once used by hunters and mountain ascetics.
The Jōetsu Line’s opening in 1931 made Tanigawa easier for Tokyo climbers to reach, and accidents rose with its popularity. After 37 climbers died in 1966, Gunma enacted a mountain accident-prevention ordinance in 1967.
