Weston, Walter

Japanese: ウェストン - Ｗｅｓｔｏｎ，Ｗａｌｔｅｒ

Year of death: 1940.3.27 (1940.3.27)
Born: December 25, 1861
A British missionary and mountaineer who came to Japan during the Meiji period. From a young age, he climbed the Matterhorn and other peaks in the Swiss Alps with his brother. Dispatched by the Anglican Church, he visited Japan three times, from 1888 to 1897, from 1902 to 1903, and from 1912 to 1916. While carrying out missionary work in Kumamoto, Kobe, and Yokohama, he traversed the mountainous regions of the Chubu region in their early days. Guided by Kamijo Kamonji, he recorded many first ascents. In 1896, he published "Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps" in London. He praised the beauty of the moss-covered virgin forests and valleys created by Japan's unique humid climate as being superior to the Swiss Alps, and spread the name of the Japanese Alps to the world. He also played a role in informing Japanese people about the joys of mountaineering, which led to the formation of the Japan Alpine Club in 1905. He can be called the father of modern mountaineering in Japan. Some people say that Weston was the one who named the Japanese Alps, but the actual person who did so was the British metallurgist Gowland. In 1937, a monument to Weston was erected in Kamikochi. The Weston Festival held every June has become a popular event that heralds the arrival of summer in the Northern Alps. <References> Kojima Usui, "Around Weston" ("Notes of an Alpinist")

(Takeda Fumio)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：1940.3.27(1940.3.27)
生年：1861.12.25
明治時代に来日したイギリス人宣教師,登山家。若いころから兄とスイスアルプスのマッターホルンなどに登る。英国聖公会から派遣され,明治21(1888)～27年,明治35～38年,大正1(1912)～3年と3回来日。熊本,神戸,横浜で伝道活動のかたわら黎明期の中部山岳地帯などを踏破。上条嘉門次の案内で多くの初登頂記録を残す。1896年ロンドンで『日本アルプスの登山と探検』を出版。日本独特の湿潤の気候が作り出した苔むす原生林と渓谷の美しさはスイスアルプスに勝ると讃え,日本アルプスの名を世界に広めた。登山の楽しさを日本人に知らせる役目も果たし,明治38年の日本山岳会結成へとつながった。日本近代登山の父といえよう。ウェストンを日本アルプスの名付け親とする人もいるが,実際の命名者は英国の冶金技師ガウランドである。昭和12(1937)年,上高地にウェストンの記念碑がつくられた。毎年6月のウェストン祭は北アルプスの夏を告げる名物行事となっている。<参考文献>小島烏水「ウェストンをめぐりて」(『アルピニストの手記』)

(武田文男)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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