The first Japanese recorded to have set foot in Tibet was a monk, in 1900, seeking a purer version of Buddhism than the one in his homeland.

What remained unclear was the route Ekai Kawaguchi (1866-1945) took to enter Tibet, tucked deep in the mountains and closed to foreigners, at a time when no decent map was available.

Now, a Japanese alpinist reckons he has finally filled in the holes on that part of Ekai’s epic journey.

Makoto Nebuka, who is 77 and a native of Hirosaki in northern Aomori Prefecture, is so confident of his finding that he has published a book on his 30-year on-site surveys to solve the mystery.

Nebuka came to the task with impeccable credentials. He was a central figure in efforts to gain UNESCO World Heritage status for the Shirakami Mountains, which straddle Aomori and Akita prefectures in northern Japan.

As a student, he was a member of the Meiji University Alpine Club in Tokyo, which produced the famed adventurer Naomi Uemura (1941-1984), and conquered six virgin Himalayan peaks.

In the 1980s, Nebuka waged a campaign against the construction of a section of the Seishu Forest Road that would have cut across the Shirakami Mountains close to where he was born.

As a result, the construction project was scrapped and the Shirakami Mountains, which boast primeval forests, were saved from development. In 1993, it became one of the first sites in Japan to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage list.

It was around this time, as the Shirakami preservation campaign was winding down, that Nebuka again became gripped by a desire to unravel the mystery of Ekai’s entry into Tibet.

Back in the 1970s, when Nebuka was chasing lofty Himalayan peaks, he learned about a nomadic group living deep in the mountains that had kept alive accounts of how their forebears had interacted with Ekai.

Nebuka, recalling a distant view of Tibet from atop a high Himalayan peak, wondered how Ekai had managed to navigate the treacherous and unforgiving terrain to reach the brown soil that marks the Tibetan plateau.

He began reading “Three Years in Tibet,” a book that Ekai dictated based on his travels, as well as documentary records by esteemed ethnographer Jiro Kawakita (1920-2009) and other authors, but he still could not make out which route Ekai took.

Nevertheless, Nebuka promised himself he would solve the riddle someday.

AREA STILL OFF-LIMITS

In 1992, Nebuka enlisted the help of friends in the area to obtain a special travel permit from the Nepalese government. He entered Tibet from Dolpo (Torbo), a region in northwest Nepal, and went about interviewing local residents there through 1993.

He published a record of that expedition in book format in 1994.

“Faraway Tibet: Retracing Ekai Kawaguchi’s footsteps,” as the Japanese-language book is titled, was first issued by Yama-Kei Publishers Co. It is now available as part of the Chuko Bunko paperback series from Chuokoron-Shinsha Inc.

But the lakes Nebuka saw in Tibet did not match the shape that Ekai described in his travelogue. It was generally assumed at the time that Ekai followed a path along a valley that appears to be a shorter route on the map, but Nebuka wasn’t convinced.

He later learned about the existence of Ekai’s diary and obtained a photocopy from a family member of the famed monk. But the diary shed no light on the matter. Still, Nebuka could not bring himself to give up.

In December 2004, he began returning to the area.

With a yak to carry his baggage, Nebuka crossed the mountain passes on horseback. He once fell from his horse and broke a bone. Another time, he contracted debilitating dengue fever.

By then, some roads were paved and people on motorcycles would pass by. But other aspects of traditional life remained unchanged, as they had for centuries.

The area lies at the heart of arid highlands, where water is so precious that the people there never developed the habit to take baths or wash their clothes.

His hosts would use the edge of a dirty sleeve to wipe a cup clean before serving tea to Nebuka. The unaffected nature of the local people’s hospitality conjured up a feeling he was reliving Ekai’s journey.

Nebuka’s interactions with the locals finally paid off and he learned which of a pair of valley paths Ekai followed to cross the national border.

A high-ranking monk of Tibetan Buddhism, whom Nebuka met in the Dolpo region, recalled that his great-grandfather talked about the time a Japanese monk crossed the Gopukhar La pass into Tibet. He also showed Nebuka a note he had jotted down about his great-grandfather’s account.

That was the only route along which yaks and horses could cross a pass at the time, the monk added.

“All the clues I needed were there,” Nebuka said he recalled thinking as everything came together.

Forty-nine years had passed since he first set foot in the Himalayas, and 30 years since he began exploring Ekai’s itinerary.

Earlier this year, Nebuka published a Japanese-language book, “Ekai Kawaguchi the truth-seeking border-crosser: A 30-year-long journey to explore the route by which he sneaked into Tibet,” from Chuokoron-Shinsha.

“I feel so relieved to have set down this load, which had been on my mind for such a long time,” Nebuka said. 

His next goal is to work again on the Shirakami Mountains.

After 30 years on the UNESCO World Heritage list, the forests in the core part of the site remain untouched. The downside is that all the regulations mean people are not allowed to enter the area freely. Nebuka said he feels responsible for that development.

He said he is thinking about whether the World Heritage site can be broadened to give people more opportunity to get in touch with nature there, just as in olden times, to carry on the message of preservation into the future.