June is almost here. On the first Sunday of June (the 3rd this year) the Weston Festival is held in Kamikochi. It is, in effect, the opening ceremony of the summer mountains.
Needless to say, it commemorates the British missionary Walter Weston (1861–1940), who introduced the beauty of Japan's mountains to the world. In 1896 (Meiji 29) his book "Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps" told Europe and America of the wonders of the Northern, Southern, and Central Alps.
At the Weston Festival in Kamikochi, alphorn sounds echo toward the Hotaka range beyond Kappa Bridge. The voices of the local choir and the tone of the alphorn blend and announce summer's arrival in Kamikochi.
At restaurants in Zermatt, the climbing base for Switzerland's famous Matterhorn, alphorn is also played. Young and old dance or listen, spellbound, to a band of vigorous mountain men in their seventies.
Most alphorns are hollowed from spruce. They are said to have been played — famous melodies such as the "Ranz des Vaches" — when cowherds took dairy cattle to high pastures to make cheese. The tube is two to three meters long, with neither finger holes nor valves.
A little more than ten days remain until the Weston Festival. The alphorn will ring again this year over Hotaka's lingering snow.