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Japan celebrates the first-ever Mountain Day

11.08.2016

Japan celebrates its newest national holiday “Yama no Hi”, or Mountain Day, for the first time today, 11 August 2016. The holiday has been introduced for the purpose of celebrating a day which offers people the opportunity to come close to mountains and appreciate their benefits. On this day, the nation will honour its extensive mountain regions. Influenced by Shintoism, Japanese culture tends to emphasize humans’ connection with nature, recognizing the role it plays in our lives. With 70 percent of the Japanese archipelago covered in peaks, mountains are integral to the topography and ecology of the nation.

Marking the first observance of this holiday, a national inaugural ceremony will be held in Kamikochi, Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan: a place that offers the opportunity to come close to mountains and appreciate them. Mountain Day became the 16th established national holiday after a revision to the Law on National Holidays was enacted in a Parliament session on 23 May 2014 to be enforced from 1 January 2016. The legislation was passed by Japan’s Parliament following a campaign conducted by the Japanese Alpine Club (JAC) as well as other groups with an interest in mountains. The JAC called for the new holiday, citing Japan’s cultural connection to nature and saying that Japan needs to celebrate its peaks.

Mountains also contribute to peoples’ well-being. Senior Programme Coordinator at United Nations University’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability Akira Nagata, focal point of the only Mountain Partnership member based in Japan, said, “Mountains and their surrounding areas are really important for peoples’ well-being in Japan through multiple functions, such as the supply of food and other agricultural products, conservation of national land, recharge of water resources, conservation of the natural environment, formation of favourable landscapes and passing down of culture. I hope, with the occasion of Mountain Day, more people in Japan as well as other parts of the world recognize the importance of mountains to their well-being.”

Mountain Day is also an opportunity to celebrate the unique species Japan is home to that are found nowhere else on earth. Many mountains species, such as the Japanese Serow, inhabit the higher regions above the tree-line, and their existence is dependent upon the mountains they inhabit. Japan’s new mountain holiday recognizes these species and their unique beauty in addition to the grandeur of the peaks.

While the United Nations General Assembly designated 11 December ‘International Mountain Day’ in 2003, Japan is the first national government to institute a holiday honouring mountains. Several universities in the United States enjoy mountain-themed holidays, including Mount Holyoke College, Smith College and Williams College. Mount Holyoke’s celebration is the oldest such holiday, dating back to 1838.

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Photo: 811yamanohi.org