A centenarian has broken the Guinness World Record after reaching the summit of Mount Fuji, which peaks at 3,776 metres in August, accompanied by his 70-year-old daughter and other family members.
Although Kokichi Akuzawa is an experienced climber, he acknowledged that this was his most challenging ascent yet. He almost gave up, but he persevered thanks to the encouragement of his family and fellow climbers.
‘I was really tempted to give up halfway through’, he told the Associated Press. ‘Reaching the summit was tough, but my friends encouraged me, and it turned out well. I managed to get through it because so many people supported me’.
Kokichi Akuzawa almost gave up during his trek to became the oldest person to summit Mount Fuji at 102 years old.
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 7, 2025
His achievement is now recognized by Guinness World Records after he reached the top in early August. pic.twitter.com/wuHiMFjIvD
Hard of hearing, he needed his daughter to shout reporters’ questions into his ear. Akuzawa added that he was proud of himself and impressed with how well he did, urging others to “climb while they still can”.
At the peak, he was photographed with a wide grin, holding the Guinness World Records certificate in one hand and a banner in the other that read: “Congratulations on climbing Mount Fuji!”
The climbing party consisted of Akuzawa, his daughter, Motoe Hoshino, his granddaughter, her husband, and four friends from a local mountain club. They camped for two nights before beginning the climb.
Akuzawa spent six months preparing for the climb, waking up at 5 a.m. each day to walk for five hours and climb smaller peaks once a week. This was not his first time on Japan’s tallest mountain. He had already broken the same record at the age of 96. What he did not know then was that, six years, a heart condition, shingles and a fall requiring stitches later, he would return to repeat the feat.
“Mount Fuji isn’t a difficult mountain, but this time was harder than six years ago. Harder than any mountain before.” He said he “never felt this weak. I didn’t have pain, but I kept wondering why I was so slow, why I had no stamina. I’d long since passed my physical limit, and it was only thanks to everyone else’s strength that I made it.”
A passionate climber, Akuzawa took up the sport at the age of fourteen. The walls of his house in Maebashi, 250 kilometres northwest of Tokyo, are covered with framed paintings of his family and the mountains he has climbed. He says that what kept him going was the social aspect of the sport. “It’s easy to make friends on the mountain,” he explains, adding that everyone is on ‘equal footing and moves forward together’ on climbs.
A brilliant student, the retired engineer worked until he was 85 and still volunteers at a senior care centre, as well as teaching painting at his home studio.
While he enjoyed solo climbs in his younger years, he has become more reliant on others with age. Although he admits he would love to climb forever, Akuzawa said he knew this would probably be the last time he summited Mount Fuji. However, he does intend to continue with other, less challenging climbs.
Akuzawa hopes to paint some scenes from the summit to add to his collection. ‘People who climb mountains, people who paint; if they can create something whole on that path, that’s the most fulfilling thing.’ His daughter wants him to paint Mount Fuji at sunrise.
