In January of 1902, to prepare for battles in cold
and mountainous climates, the Japanese Imperial Army sent 210 men
on a training exercise across the Hakkōda Mountains in the middle of winter. This would go on to be the single deadliest
mountaineering disaster in all of recorded history. This is the story of the Hakkōda Mountains disaster. [intro music] At the turn of the 20th century, tensions were
rising between the Japanese emperor and the Russian tsar, and war was seeming more
and more likely between the two nations. Throughout history, Russia has been known for its
ability to fight effectively in the cold. And in fact, it's often seemed as though the colder it is,
the fiercer they could be. This was something that the Japanese high command
was worried about. The first Sino-Japanese war had just ended in 1895, during which the Japanese faced significant problems fighting in cold mountainous terrain in Korea. Not only did it make the battles difficult,
but it was a logistical nightmare. If war were to break out again, they expected
to face similar conditions on their northern shores or even across the sea. A scenario that was thought of as particularly likely, was the shelling of the northern coast of Honshu,
the largest of the Japanese islands. In this scenario, all of the roads and railways
along the coast would be destroyed and make travel inland necessary. The only problem is that just south of the north coast
of Honshu is a mountain range known as the Hakkōda Mountains. These are a series of active volcanoes, and some are as high as over 5,000 feet or 1,500 meters. They're also known to get a significant amount of snowfall, which would make travel across them even
more difficult, not to mention the fact that temperatures 30 degrees below freezing
were not unheard of. So because of this, the Japanese high command
came up with a plan. They would train some specialist units to secure
a route across the mountain range in the winter. This was seen as the perfect training exercise
for a few reasons. First, this might emulate the exact scenario
that could occur if war broke out. Second, troops could establish a path through
the mountains so there was no guesswork later on. And finally, these units would not only
get practice in the cold mountains, but they'd also be able to inform the rest of the army
on the logistics of travel in those conditions. So next, two regiments were chosen to perform
the practice missions. First was the 31st Regiment that would travel
21 miles from Hirosaki to Aomori. The other was the 5th Regiment. These were two groups that were already
stationed in the north, and so they were more used to dealing
with the cold already. The man chosen to lead the 5th Regiment
was Captain Bunkichi Kannari. Bunkichi had joined the Japanese Imperial Army
shortly after the first Sino-Japanese war, and it was apparent pretty quickly that he was a good leader. He quickly rose to the ranks, until eventually
getting promoted to Captain. He also happened to make a good choice
for this exercise, because he was used to the cold mountainous terrain
in his home prefecture. Bunkichi's job would be to lead his group
from Aomori to the east coast, 44 miles away, and through the Hakkōda Mountains. 210 men were then selected from the 5th Regiment, and the exercise was planned for the middle of January. As a weird aside, the second in command to Bunkichi
was actually his superior, Major Shin Yamaguchi. The Major was an extremely well-educated officer, and he spoke English and French and became a Major
while fighting in the Japanese-Sino war. On top of that, he'd faced the cold before
and the mountains, so his job in the exercise was to plan their route
and get them to each checkpoint. It's not entirely clear why the Major wasn't in charge
instead of Bunkichi. But in any case, when the day of the operation came, Bunkichi led his men out at just before 7 AM
on January 23rd. The first of many problems they'd soon
encounter was that even though these soldiers were stationed
in a northern prefecture, not many of them had experience crossing the mountain. In fact, some of them had never even seen snow before
since they weren't all necessarily from that area. It's just where they were sent to be stationed. This worried Bunkichi enough that he thought
about letting a local villager who knew the region well guide them. But Major Yamaguchi was confident that his
military training in map and compass were enough so they ended up
leaving the guide behind. The first day was supposed to be a short walk from Aomori to some hot springs roughly 11 miles away. Bunkichi thought that the only tricky part, if any, would be climbing over a 2,400-foot mountain
along the way. In fact, they didn't have much trouble until
they reached the snow in a high pass. During the next half-mile walk from there
to another pass though, the temperatures began to drop and the snow got deeper. Almost immediately, the question their mission
was investigating had an answer, which was that moving heavy gear through
deep snow is extremely difficult. All their gear had been loaded onto a sled,
and this included all their food, heating, and cooking equipment, and anything they might
need to build shelters or move snow. Soldiers then took turns pulling this sled. As they made their way higher
and the snow became deeper, dragging it became more and more difficult. This is partly due to the thick snow, and partly because
everything was becoming frozen solid. For a moment, because of how difficult
things got so rapidly, Bunkichi even wondered if they should turn back. But he realized they weren't out there to find out if moving men and equipment through
the cold was difficult; they were there to find out if it was possible. These were exactly the conditions they might
expect in the Korean mountains, or if the Russians tried to invade. So, despite protests from some of the soldiers,
everyone was ordered to keep going. By 4 PM, the troops managed to cover just over a mile
from the high pass to reach the bottom of the mountain. This meant the hot springs were just two and a half
miles away if they could get up and over, but Bunkichi could tell that the volcano
was gonna be a challenge. It was already covered in deep snow, and getting to the top with the sled
would be even more difficult. As they started up the mountain, it was challenging enough
for the troops who only carried their own gear. For the ones dragging the sled, it was almost impossible. Soon, the sled party was an hour behind the main body
of soldiers and needed help to catch up. Bunkichi then sent his platoons back down
the mountain to help them pull, and at the same time, he sent 15 men to scout ahead
and find the trail to the hot springs to see if the sled could even be pulled down it. The 88 extra men sent to help the sled pullers managed to get the equipment up and over
the mountain, but not much further. It didn't help that they were also all starving but all their
food was frozen solid and couldn't be eaten. By then as well, it was clear to Bunkichi that
the sled was a lost cause, so at 6 PM, he gave the order for all the gear
to be pulled off of it and for each soldier to carry as much gear as they could. Some of the items they took with them
were heavy, like copper cooking pots, and Bunkichi knew it wasn't an ideal solution,
but there wasn't much else they could do. So, with everything on their backs, they kept moving again
and started down the mountain. About two hours after abandoning the sled, the soldiers found themselves in a forest just
a mile from the hot springs. A little earlier, they'd actually even bumped
into the advance party Bunkichi had sent to find the trail. Because these men weren't experienced in that
sort of terrain, they'd gotten lost, and it was only by luck they bumped into
the rest of the soldiers. At that point, it was well below-freezing, and the winds were whipping up the snow,
causing whiteout conditions. This meant finding the trail to the hot spring
was almost impossible. They could barely see their hands in front of their faces,
let alone any landmarks. So, instead of risking getting lost
like his advance party had, they then dug a trench into the snow and tried
to get any rest they could. Unfortunately, this would go on to be a brutally cold night
where almost no one could sleep. Some troops had salvaged a little charcoal
from the sled and lit small fires, but it wasn't enough to keep all 210 men warm. After only a few hours, the situation was getting
so bad that Bunkichi realized that if they stayed there much longer, they might not
even make it through the night. Even worse though, was that he wasn't entirely sure
where they were. The blizzard showed no signs of slowing down,
and the map and compass were useless with any way of spotting a peak
or a river for reference. Ultimately, he decided that following the tracks they'd made the previous day was the best
and maybe only option. So at 2 AM, he decided to turn his men back around
and climb back up over the mountain and head back to Aomori, less than 24 hours
after they'd begun their mission. Unfortunately, for the soldiers, it ended up being just
as hard to find the way back up the mountain as it might've been to find the trails to the hot springs. The blizzard had essentially erased all of their tracks,
and visibility in the storm was almost non-existent. Just an hour into their trek, Bunkichi and his men
found themselves lost in a gorge with steep cliffs on either side. They were sure that following the valley
would take them the wrong way, so in the dark, with a blizzard raging all around them and temperatures well below-freezing,
they decided to try and climb the cliffs. This is where the first men were lost. In the darkness, nobody saw their comrades fall,
but they could hear them screaming as they lost their grip and plummeted to the rocks below. Trying to find the men who fell and give them
medical help was impossible too because the soldiers couldn't see a thing. Backtracking down the sheer cliffs in the pitch darkness
was maybe even more dangerous, so anyone who didn't die in the fall couldn't be rescued. It was better to stay as close to the edge as possible
and climb slowly and carefully. Those who made it up the cliffs continued
the treacherous walk back until Major Yamaguchi suddenly ordered everyone to stop. At about 8 AM, one of the lower-ranking officers,
Sergeant Major Sato, convinced Major Yamaguchi that he knew where
the trail leading to the hot springs was. With this new revelation, the Major decided
to turn the troops around and give temporary command to Sergeant Sato,
hoping he could lead them to safety. After a short walk in this new direction, they found themselves on the banks of a river,
nowhere near any trail. Sergeant Sato was wrong about where
he thought the trail was, meaning they had traveled all that extra distance
for nothing. In the chaos of this revelation, one of the officers and
another soldier tried to keep going by crossing the river, but immediately, they were caught in the current and
swept away to the shock and horror of everyone else. This was a breaking point for many of the soldiers. They were already freezing and hungry, and they'd heard
their friends falling around them the night before, and now they'd just witnessed two more men
get swept away in the river. On top of all of that, the glimmer of hope that had been
given by Sergeant Sato was completely gone. Bunkichi tried to calm things down, but he couldn't. He knew that they had to backtrack once again, which meant climbing the cliffs again, where
more men would for sure fall off. But without any other options, they turned around
and trudged on and then climbed the cliffs again,
and lost even more soldiers. After making it over again, they had to find somewhere
to camp to find some shelter from the blizzard. Unfortunately by then as well, all of the men carrying
the digging equipment had disappeared either from the first or second time climbing the cliffs. So instead, after scouting ahead, Bunkichi found
a slight depression in the mountainside that offered a little bit of shelter from the wind. As if things couldn't get any worse, the brutal cold from the night before wasn't
as cold as it was going to get. The second night was in fact the coldest
night ever recorded in Japan. The temperature in the mountains dropped to
-41 degrees Celsius or negative 41.8 Fahrenheit. And without adequate shelter,
many of the soldiers froze to death. When Bunkichi woke them up early the following day, 40 soldiers had either died from exposure
or had been lost in the cliffs the day before. At 3 AM on January 25th, so early on day 2
since they started, Bunkichi and his remaining troops set off once again,
trying to find their way back to the mountain. At this point, almost everyone was suffering
from some degree of frostbite, and many were in the early stages of hypothermia. Their compass was also frozen, and the map
they had wasn't much use, because they still didn't know where they were. So they were sort of just following their instincts;
they couldn't really do much else. Bunkichi thought he was heading in the
right direction, at least roughly, but it was impossible to be sure. He just hoped that they would eventually
stumble back on the mountain that they needed to cross to head back down to safety. So they marched and marched, but eventually,
Bunkichi realized he could be anywhere. Every hillside looked like the last.
Every river was the same. Every forest was just more trees. Major Yamaguchi wasn't help much either. He didn't know where they were even with his map,
compass, and military training. They thought back to when they turned down
the help of the local man and thought how they might be sitting
in a nice hot spring, sipping sake, instead of the brutal march they were on. But unfortunately, they hadn't, and things
were only getting worse for the troops. Many of them were entering the later stages
of hypothermia as they marched on, and some began
paradoxically undressing. This is when the extreme cold tricks the body
into thinking it's burning up. Soon, many of them were complaining about the heat and stripping off their clothes, and some even
jumped into a nearby river. Obviously, the soldiers who did this
didn't come back afterward. Bunkichi decided it was time to let his troops know
that he was lost, and despite his best efforts, he was clueless
about where to go next. He then said to them, from that moment, that they were dismissed, and they had
to find their own way back to Aomori. This was another breaking point for many of the soldiers. Some began walking toward the trees,
yelling that they'd cut them down to create a raft and go home by following the river. Others shouted about heading back down toward
the cliff, convinced they'd be back in Aomori if they'd just reached the bottom and
followed the gorge along. This splintered the group further as many soldiers
wandered off to try to save themselves, thinking they knew a better way than their failed leadership. By then as well, between the paradoxical
undressing and delirium, around 30 more soldiers had passed away. While all of this was happening, one of the other captains, a man named Captain Kuraishi, had managed
to stay relatively calm and collected. As they had marched earlier that day, he'd selected
15 of the most resilient officers and a platoon of soldiers that he thought
would likely survive, just given how their condition seemed. He also thought he knew a way back to the mountains,
so on Bunkichi's order that it was every man for himself, he took a small group and set off toward the direction
he thought was correct. Unfortunately, however strong Captain Kuraishi
thought his small group was, the cold was getting to them as well. As they marched on, one of these soldiers
supposedly mistook a swinging branch in a tree up ahead for a rescue team. This delusion then started to spread to others,
and other troops began to see what he had. Many of them started to scream in excitement
and shouted that it was true, but this was then quickly followed by the realization
that it wasn't that at all, and it further eroded what little spirit they had. Captain Kuraishi wasn't going to allow his
resilient group to fall apart though, so he ordered one of the soldiers to blow as hard as
possible on his trumpet whenever panic set in. This sudden noise seemed to bring the men around,
at least temporarily, and every now and then when panic set in,
the soldier blew his trumpet. At some point during the march, the captain sent
some of his strongest soldiers out ahead as a scouting party,
and miraculously, at 11:30 AM, Two of them returned with good news. They'd found
the trail home, and they were sure of it. So once again, they all set off toward where they thought
the mountain was and through the brutal cold. This was actually the correct trail, but by then,
for many of them, it just didn't matter. As they continued, the two men who had scouted ahead
died in each other's arms, trying to stay warm. Shortly after, the army surgeon and chief nurse
succumbed to hypothermia after exhausting themselves and trying
to take care of other soldiers. Even the soldier whose trumpet blasts
had helped keep the group focused, was frozen with his trumpet by his side,
and his frozen lips still attached. Incredibly, Captain Kuraishi wasn't the only person
who had managed to find the trail back. Later that day, Bunkichi led himself,
Major Yamaguchi, and other troops who decided to stick with them, to the mountain. The two parties met and camped in a forest
just north of the mountain, and thankfully the weather broke a little. At the same time, although it wasn't as cold as it had been,
temperatures were still well below-freezing. The only way they could get any heat was by burning
the rucksacks of anyone who didn't make it, but this still wasn't enough to stop even more
soldiers from freezing overnight. By dawn on January 26th, only around 60 soldiers
were left from the original 210. Major Yamaguchi had also fallen unconscious
through the night, so Bunkichi ordered some of the soldiers
to carry him along with them. Bunkichi then took a small group of officers ahead,
climbing to higher ground, so they could find the route and direct everyone else. Meanwhile, Captain Kuraishi stayed below to keep
the other soldiers on course. But everyone was so weak that they couldn't go
far before needing rest. After a long day of marching again, that evening, they huddled together in a circle, sharing what
little body heat they still had. But again, some people were already too far gone. The next da, they woke up to find that only
30 soldiers were left from the day before. Bunkichi then got them together
and set off early in the morning. Eventually, they found themselves at a fork in the trail, but they didn't know which direction led them to safety. After some deliberation, the decision was made
to split into two groups so that if one party found the way back, they could
send people back for the other party. Captain Kuraishi and Major Yamaguchi,
who had recovered by then, took some troops one way, and Bunkichi
led everyone else to the other. Unfortunately, Captain Kuraishi's trail led him
he wrong way back and toward the river that those two soldiers
had been swept away in. What made it worse was that they got
caught in another blizzard en route. For many, this was all their body could take,
and they fell as they marched and never got up. Upon reaching the river as well and realizing
they had gone the wrong way, Captain Kuraishi decided that the best thing
they could do was stop. The rescue party had to be looking for them by then,
so staying put seemed like a sensible option. Many of his party unfortunately didn't feel the
same way and couldn't wait for rescue. Some even decided to keep going by crossing the river, but not a single one of these soldiers
successfully made it across. Even Sergeant Sato, the man who was convinced
he knew the route days earlier, was convinced he could survive the river
where others hadn't. But, just like the others, he never made it across. At the same time all of this was happening,
Bunkichi's group was heading in the right direction. But despite being close to salvation, every step
was still a monumental struggle. It seemed like with every footfall, somebody else
collapsed into the snow and didn't get up again. Soon, only just two were left; Bunkichi himself
and another officer, Corporal Goto. Eventually, they thought they could see a town
in the distance, and they were right. It was Tamogino on the outskirts of Aomori. In complete exhaustion, Bunkichi took one look at the
lights ahead and then collapsed to the ground. He then looked at the corporal and gave one last order. He said, "Go to Tamogino and ask the local residents
to contact the regiment." As far as anyone knows, these were his last words. A few hours later, a rescue team found the
Corporal standing motionless in the snow. He had been walking for hours, and by then,
his energy was completely gone. When they found him, he was actually still alive,
but literally frozen in place. He was described by the rescue team as looking like
a statue emerged from the snow. And when they finally found the Corporal, the full gravity
of the situation started to be realized. There had actually been concern already
about the members of the 5th Regiment ever since they hadn't shown up when they
were supposed to on January the 4th, so just one day after they left. The following day, on January 25th, they even made
food ready for them to return, assuming they had simply been delayed because
of the bad weather the day before. Finally, when they still hadn't shown up by 10 PM,
they contacted the local police to see if there was any sign of any soldiers anywhere. This was when the rescue mission
was officially launched, knowing that something terrible had happened
to the mission if not a single soldier had shown up. The eventual full rescue involved over 10,000 people, including the rest of the Aomori Regiment
and the Hirosaki Regiment. First, they attempted to estimate the route
where Bunkichi might have led his troops. Then they traveled carrying sticks in a line
that was 30 people wide. As they walked, they'd stab these long sticks
into the newly fallen snow, and if they felt something strange, they'd stop and dig
to see if it was a soldier who was buried. The rescue team would then go out to do this for six hours
a day, trying every route they could think of. They also used hunting dogs provided by a local tribe, and the dogs found quite a few missing troops,
but none were alive. The rescue team also quickly realized that many
of the bodies were also in the rivers, so they built sandbars to temporarily dam the water
and stop anyone from floating away. Two days after the search was launched, Captain Kuraishi
was found in a cave on the cliff. Their survivors of his party had walked back there
to find shelter from the blizzards. Major Yamaguchi was also rescued with them, but he died on February 2nd while still recovering
in the hospital. The official reason for his death was ruled as cardiac arrest, but there are also rumors that the shame of the disaster
was too much for him to handle. Next, the body of Captain Bunkichi Kannari
was discovered the following day, only a few miles from the town he collapsed in view of. The day after that, another 36 were found on the trail
between the fork the two captains had found. Another couple of days later, on January 1st,
miraculously, two more soldiers were found alive
in a charcoal mining shack. They were taken to the hospital, but only one survived. Around this hut as well were sixteen more troops
who weren't so lucky. Not far from the hut, in the region's forest, dozens more
were uncovered from the frozen snow. In the end, only eleven of the total 210
that set off survived. And for those that did survive, things were still bleak. Because of the frostbite, eight of them had to have
their arms and legs amputated, and another lost three fingers. Later, an investigation into the disaster revealed
a few reasons for the events that occurred. The first was obviously the weather. January 5th of that year was the coldest
temperature ever recorded in Japan. And this was only further amplified by the
clothing they had for the mission. Back then, a winter uniform was a wool coat,
a service cap, a uniform made from cotton flannel, cotton gloves,
and long snow boots, if you were an officer. If you weren't an officer, you didn't even get that. Some of the officers had bought better clothes
for the exercise, and some of these were the men who were
ultimately found alive. Like for example, Captain Kuraishi bought a set
of rubber boots in Tokyo earlier that year and it's believed that's the reason his feet were
saved from frostbite. In addition to their poor clothing, it's clear that the
group had issues with leadership. Even though Bunkichi was supposed to be in command,
his number two was a Major who outranked him, and most of his colleagues
were of equal rank. More than once, Bunkichi's decisions were questioned. Like when Major Yamaguchi decided to
listen to Sergeant Sato and led them back the way they had already come, adding
precious time to their already desperate situation. In the end, historically bad weather,
poor planning, and poor leadership resulted in one of the worst mountaineering disasters
in history. Today, close to where the tragedy unfolded, is a memorial statue of the real-life statue,
Corporal Gotoh, standing motionless, alone, and hoping for rescue. And on February 6th, 1904,
Russia and Japan went to war. Thank you all so much for watching.
If you have a story suggestion, feel free to send it to me by the email
found in the description, and hopefully, I will see you in the next one.
