is a mountain on the border of

Gunma Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 Square kilometre, km2 (2,456 Square mile, sq mi). Gunma P ...

and

Niigata Prefecture is a prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,227,496 (1 July 2019) and is the fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area at . Niigata Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture and ...

in Japan. It is one of the 100 famous mountains in Japan.

Routes

The mountain trail leading to the summit of Mount Tanigawa from four directions: north, south, east and west. The easiest and most popular is the southern route via the

aerial tramway An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...

, and many families reach the summit on holidays. Rock climbing routes are graded according to the Japanese Ice Climbing Rating from I-VI and there are numerous routes along the Eastern Ridges, with significant rock routes for summer climbing. Although the mountain is less than Mt. Fuji (in fact barely half its height), the relief is stark, with some routes starting as low as at above sea level and topping out at or near the summit. Like many mountains in Japan, there is no officially recorded first ascent. Many mountains have a religious significance and have been hiked and summitted by Japanese religious ascetics for hundreds of years.

Weather

The mountain lies on the border of Gunma and Niigata Prefectures and sits precisely where the weather systems from the Asian continent and the Pacific meet in often furious displays of

extreme weather Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Often, extreme events are based on a loca ...

. Cornices on the ridge can reach out over 20 metres and occur at lower levels of the mountain as well as along the summit ridge. When avalanche risk is high, the consequences can be particularly dangerous given the steep terrain and over 1000m of relief to gather force.

Safety

Although many trekking routes leading to the summit are relatively safe, there have been many deaths due to rock climbing, so it is sometimes called "mountain of death". As of December 2014, since its initial exploration and route-finding in the early 1930s, a total of 805 people have died on Tanigawa-dake. (Compare with the approximately 200 people who have died on Mt. Everest over a comparable period.) In 1943, a climbing party disappeared on the mountain. They were not found until another climbing party stumbled upon their remains in 1973. In the 1960s, there was a famous rescue attempt of Japanese climbers on the main face who had died of exposure. Their bodies were eventually brought down when the Japanese Self-Defense Forces cut the rope with gunfire in order to retrieve the bodies.( ja

/ref> Japan offers a high level of support with helicopter trained mountain rescue teams, though with high wind there is always the chance that they cannot be deployed. Along the upper ridges are two safety huts. One is the emergency hut for 2-3 near Ichinokura-dake (一ノ倉岳), which may be hard to find on deep snow and therefore unusable. The much larger "Shoulder Hut" below the summit of Tanigawa-Dake is much more spacious, but is unheated and unmanned in winter. Sometimes called the mountain of death, the mountain is bedecked at all levels with commemorative plaques for those who have died on the mountain. Some of these groups have been rather large. Near the base of the mountain is a large sculpted piton, with an adjoining wall inscribed with the names of all those who have died on the mountain.

Misc

The closest train station is Doai Station (土合駅). Climbing Mount Tanigawa is one of the main storylines in the novel ''

Climber's High is a 2008 Japanese film directed by Masato Harada. The film is about a newspaper editor (played by Shin'ichi Tsutsumi) who deals with the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123. Accolades 51st Blue Ribbon Awards * Best Film * Best Supporting Actor ...

'', which was made into an

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

documentary in 2005 and a movie in 2008. Japanese clothing and lifestyle retailer Snow Peak is named after Mount Tanigawa. In Gunma's

Jomo Karuta are Japanese playing cards. Playing cards were introduced to Japan by Portuguese traders during the mid-16th century. These early decks were used for trick-taking games. The earliest indigenous ''karuta'' was invented in the town of Miike in ...

, Mount Tanigawa is featured on the 'mi' card. Yuzuha Usagi's father went missing while climbing Mount Tanigawa in Alice in Borderland manga/ TV series.

Gallery

Image:Tanigawa01.JPG, Mount Tanigawa from the south Image:Tanigawa06.JPG, The top of Mount Tanigawa with clouds Image:Tanigawa07.JPG, The top of Mount Tanigawa Image:Tanigawa03.JPG, Mount Hotaka and Akagi Mountains from Mount Tanigawa Image:Tanigawa02.JPG, South wall of Mount Tanigawa Image:Tanigawa04.JPG, South wall of Mount Tanigawa Image:Tanigawa05.JPG, The route to the top of Mount Tanigawa Image:Tanigawa08.JPG, South slope of Mount Tanigawa 20140907 095845-1 일본 타니가와산 한중일 산악구조대 합동훈련.jpg, Korea-Japan-China Joint Rescue training

References