<雲南懇話会からの寄稿>播隆上人の槍ヶ岳開山と飛州新道 --信州の鷹匠屋・中田又重と共に--

Abstract

There is a monument of Walter Weston at Kamikochi in Shinshu, whose name is widely known by many people as the early days climber of Yarigatake (3180 m), the fifth highest mountain in Japan, located in the Northern Japan-Alps. There was a Japanese who climbed Yarigatake before him, though. His name is Saint Banryu, a Nenbutsu (prayer to Buddha)-chanting priest, about who I want many people to know. He succeeded in the first climb of Yarigatake in 1828, and made it a place for religious worship by setting up a small shrine with a statue of Buddha inside on the mountaintop. He climbed this mountain five times, thereby guiding many people to Yarigatake. Those great achievements couldn't have been accomplished by the power and effort of himself alone: he was supported by common people in those days.