うたぴょんスポーツThis post is a bit different from Uta's usual running log. On October 31, 2025, she and I climbed Tanigawadake, a peak on the Gunma-Niigata border, north-west of Tokyo, that belongs to the Hyakumeizan, the list of Japan's hundred most famous mountains.
We went up the Nishiguro ridge route, which hikers call one of the Nihon Sandai Kyuto, the three steepest climbing trails in the country. The title of Uta's video says it plainly: if you fall here, it's over.
What happened that day
We set out early for the Nishiguro ridge, the classic route up Tanigawadake. It's one of three trails in Japan nicknamed the 'three great steep climbs', and you feel it within the first hour, as the path goes almost straight up through forest before breaking out onto bare rock.
Higher up, the ridge narrows with drops on both sides. The video title isn't exaggerating: on this stretch, if you fall, it's over. Uta kept a steady pace the whole way, picking her footing carefully and using her hands on the rockier sections. There was no ekiden sash to pass here, just the two of us and the mountain.
Eventually the summit came into view, the same peak that puts Tanigawadake on the Hyakumeizan list, before we turned around and worked our way back down. It was a long day on the legs, a different kind of tired from her usual road races and relay training, but not a bad different.
What the parent thought about it
I run with Uta most weekends for her ekiden and marathon training, but this was the first time I watched her handle real exposure, a trail where one wrong step actually matters. I was more nervous the whole way than I usually am watching her race.
What struck me was that she didn't speed up out of impatience on the easy parts, or freeze up out of fear on the hard ones. She kept the same careful pace throughout, which is close to the instinct a good distance runner already has: don't panic, keep moving well, trust the next step.
I don't think a steep ridge like the Nishiguro route teaches anything you can use directly in a race. But it does teach a kid that her own judgement, about where to put her feet, when to slow down, when it's fine to keep going, is worth trusting. That's not nothing.
If your own kid runs, climbs, or does anything outdoors, you know the particular kind of quiet that comes over you watching them do something a little bit dangerous, and do it well. That was my day on Tanigawadake.