Chiyoko in Western clothing, circa 1914 (Chiyoko, age 43).
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Nonaka Chiyoko, who died on 22 February 1923.
Nonaka Itaru and his wife Chiyoko took weather observations on the summit of Mt Fuji for almost three months in the winter of 1895, thus paving the way for a permanent Mt Fuji Weather Station. To commemorate their feat, the Fuyo Nikki Society (named for Chiyoko’s journal of this adventure) has set up an online museum to display relevant resources. The aim is to accurately inform the public about the couple's achievements based on historical facts.
This is important because the Nonakas’ sojourn on Mt Fuji has also been celebrated in more than one novel and several films. Unfortunately, this has resulted in some distortions of the historical record. For instance, in his novel, Fuyo no Hito (The Lady of Mt Fuji), Nitta Jiro suggests that the Nonakas’ eldest daughter Sonoko died while her parents were away on Mt Fuji. But in fact Sonoko passed away some years later, in 1901, when she was seven years old, as Ohmori Hisao points out in his commentary in the Heibonsha combined edition of Chiyoko’s Fuyo Nikki (Mt Fuji Journal) and Itaru’s Fuji Annai (Guide to Mt Fuji). Nitta also suggests that Itaru’s mentor, Wada Yuji, refused to allow Chiyoko to become a member of the Meteorological Society of Japan when she applied to join, but it appears that, historically, her application was accepted. The Society has published these and other facts, based on its investigations.
Heibonsha combined edition of Chiyoko’s Fuyo Nikki (Mt Fuji Journal) and Itaru’s Fuji Annai (Guide to Mt Fuji)
The most reliable source on Chiyoko is her own Fuyo Nikki, which is most easily available in Japanese in the above-mentioned Heibonsha edition (2006) edited and introduced by Ohmori Hisao. In addition, members of the Society are preparing a full English translation.
We sincerely hope that those who are interested in the Nonaka family, and in particular in the previously little-known Chiyoko, will visit our museum.
A women's climbing party leaves for Mt Fuji on 15 August 1908 (Meiji 41), translated from JijishinpoAt the request of the teachers of the girls' school and other ladies, Mrs Chiba Hidatane, a women's educator from Shiba Park No. 14-2, organised a women's group called the Konohana-kai, named for the goddess of the mountain, to climb Mount Fuji last year. This year, with the support of Mr Nonaka Itaru, we will hold our second climbing party in the near future, with Mrs Nonaka Chiyoko as its president.
（Fuyo Nikki Society）
About Mount Fuji Research Station, a certified non-profit organisation
In 2004, the manned weather station on Mt Fuji closed, ending 72 years of continuous human habitation on Japan's highest summit, and the station’s buildings were scheduled for demolition.
The Association Mount Fuji Research Station is a non-profit organisation founded in 2005 by researchers in atmospheric chemistry and high-altitude medicine, with the aim of borrowing this facility from the official sector and turning it into a centre for high-altitude research and education.
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