The photo exhibition marking 60 years since the first ascent of Manaslu (organized by The Mainichi Newspapers) opened February 1 in the free space beside the east entrance on the first floor of Palaceside Building (photo above). Through the 5th, anyone may view it freely from 10:00 to 17:00 each day.
Manaslu is a Himalayan peak in Nepal. At 8,163 meters it ranks eighth in the world. Its name comes from the Sanskrit “Manasa,” meaning
“mountain of the spirit.”
The first party in the world to reach the summit was the expedition dispatched in 1956 by the Japanese Alpine Club and The Mainichi Newspapers. It was a feat postwar Japanese mountaineering could boast to the world. It is said to have given great courage to a nation still crushed by defeat, and to have touched off an unprecedented climbing boom.
The climb was planned in 1951 by the Kyoto Academic Alpine Club around Eizaburo Nishibori (later leader of the Antarctic wintering party and more) and Tadao Umesao (later first director of the National Museum of Ethnology). After a reconnaissance and the failures of the first and second parties, the third party tried again in 1956. On May 9, climber Toshio Imanishi and Sherpa Gyaltsen reached the summit; on the 11th, Kiichiro Kato and Minoru Higashida did the same.
The exhibition shows 14 photo panels, including Imanishi standing on the summit (photo at left), four Mainichi newspaper pages reporting the ascent, and four photographs of Tokyo at the time.
That page is the morning edition of May 18, 1956 (photo at right). The lead to the front-page story reads as follows.
“According to an official telegram that reached the Nepalese government on the afternoon of the 17th from Manaslu expedition leader Arihito Maki, the Japanese Manaslu party, favored by fine weather, sent a first assault team on the 9th and a second on the 11th, and succeeded both times in conquering the summit… The names of the four who succeeded are unknown. The five-year labor of The Mainichi Newspapers and the Japanese Alpine Club has here borne fruit in the third expedition, adding a brilliant page to the history of world mountaineering.”
Nine days after the first ascent, and a full week after the second. One can imagine the communications of the time. Today even an Everest summit can be broadcast live — truly another age.
The Mainichi Newspapers will hold various commemorative events toward May 9, the 60th anniversary. This exhibition is the opening. The documentary screening on February 3 is already closed, but a commemorative event, “The Manaslu Day,” and a Nepal earthquake recovery event, “The Nepal Friendship Day,” will be held May 8. Mountain and outdoor festivals are also planned with the cooperation of the Jinbocho and Ogawamachi shopping streets in Tokyo.