Did you know that a dollar bill weighs about 100 grams? And if you have a stack of 700 one-dollar bills in your hand that they would still weigh less than Tozan, a monstrous new self-published book about Willie’s quest to climb the 100 mountains of Japan?
William Banff, better known by his pen name Willie Walks, is the first known Australian to have climbed the Nihon Hyakumeizan, or One Hundred Mountains of Japan, and this book is a travelogue of sorts, documenting his journey in agonizing detail.
Clocking in at well north of 100,000 words, the 546-page behemoth may appear daunting at first, but not as formidable as Willie’s own challenge to climb the Hundred Peaks. The book starts with an informative introduction and then presents each mountain chronologically rather than geographically, so readers can follow along in “real time” on Willie’s quest.
Willie is not one to mince words, and with colorful language and creative Willie-isms scattered throughout the book, it is one hell of a wagon ride. You know it’s going to be an epic tale when the first word of the narrative is “CHRIST!”
If there’s any way to describe Willie’s writing style, if would have to be: Bill Bryson on speed. Willie will make you laugh, shake your head in disbelief, and head under the blankets for cover, all in one sentence! His adjective-laden style takes a bit getting used to at first, but once you dive in there’s no turning back, and his attention to detail, his natural gift to help “paint the scene” if you will, is second to none. For instance, in chapter 57:
“The sky wheels above me, the sun adheres to its set course, and the cloud and rain drift at the mercy of the winds. The ground is an ever-mutating treadmill of surfaces beneath my boots. Rock, earth, mud, moss. It’s introspection on steroids. A meandering meditation. All the façades held in place by the demands and expectations of life down on the flats long fallen away. I can hear myself again. Who have I been all these years? Who will I be when I walk out of these mountains?”
Despite the War-and-Peace size of the volume, readers can rest assured that it is definitely a page turner, and straight into the first chapter on Ibuki-yama, there’s already a sense of being drawn into the narrative, eager to discover the next hiccup and anecdote along the way. These are the kinds of stories that grandpa might tell you on his death bed, full of life and vigor of days long gone.
Each mountain is broken into its own chapter, so it can be taken in small doses, similar to someone climbing the Hundred Mountains themselves, so if you read just one chapter a day you can finish in a little over three months, which is a lot faster than actually trying to climb the Hundred Mountains yourself.
Every chapter is headed with a sketch of the mountain climbed, crafted by Willie’s own hand. In addition, he has also hand-drawn a map for each region, which is by no means an easy task. The only thing that could better complement the book would be to perhaps fill some of the dead space on some of the chapters with a black and white photograph or two, so readers could further visualize the scenery at play. To compensate for this, Willie has put photos of each mountain on his website.
So as we head toward the holiday season and cooler weather, consider picking up a copy of all 788 grams of Tozan at your online bookseller named after a South American river. You just might not be the same and you don’t have to be a mountaineer, a Japanologist, or even someone interested in the outdoors to enjoy it. Click here for more details.
Hiking in Japan 