5.13d in 1989
Past Kazumasa Yoshida was once world's top climber in 1989 in Mars 5.13d... A sir name Yoshida, is so common in Japan, and Kazumasa is also common... so it is not like Hidetaka Suzuki who is so famous in the U.S. climbers network. Yoshida died at age 53, and it was a blood cancer.
He was the first full time climber in Japanese climbing history and he failed to be recognized as a world's top climber because he was too modest to put Mars 5.14a...
Lyn Hill climbed 5.14a in 1990 so Yoshida was a year earlier... this is famous among Japanese climbers and he is a kind of climber when he died, a lot of also famous climber friends, wrote a Rock& Snow Climbing magazine his tributes... (074 in 2016)
I was perhaps a last belayer of Yoshida. I was with him only for a short time, but he was pretty much open to me. Not just to me, to everyone.
He had no snobbishness at all... most climbers in Japanese climbing community, likes to brag about how strong he is as a climber... climbing a difficult route is a source of their ego, not a joy. They look down on people who can't climb as good as them...or try to use a beginner. It's a competitive world.
So in this kind of climbing cultural base, Yoshida's frank, and straight attitude was very refreshing to me.
I was a late starter as a climber, started to climb at age 43 and then I was a total beginner of trad climb. I met Yoshida, to learn how to climb crack in his climbing school. Then, right in the next day, I was belaying him. It was unsaid "contract" that is, "I belay you, you teach me" ... so I was very lucky just by belaying him I get to learn from him. If I were him I may consider this trade as unfair trade... but he was not such a small heart.
Yoshida was very weak back then, already, he was climbing only 1 or 2 shots, real shot and finished the day's climbing...so I had a really hard time climbing with him, since usually climber climbs, one at a time, one by one, but with him, he doesn't climb much, so I had to keep climbing my project...
Yes, I had a project then, he suggested that I climb a route of virgin slab rock...I was an alpine ice climber back then, and not that strong as a rock climber so that slab was very difficult... his belay was beautiful, no additional slack at all...so I was surprised!
Before him, I was always climbing with sloppy belayer and I did not know proper belay... he showed that to me.
Tony and Laos
Yoshida had passed away at the same year I met him, in September 26 in 2016.
I went to Laos in November, Green Climbers Home. There, I met Tony.
Tony noticed me because I was so unhappy with a partner that time. My partner was a kind of person who does not consider how other side of the rope is feeling... when I just arrived, tired from the day's travel, he made me climb, and the next morning when I was up and fresh and itchy to climb, he made me go back to the town...so it's a Japanese typical old male. Everything goes around him.
To my surprise, Tony was a climber who lived in Hokkaido, Monbetsu...such a small town, I actually did not know where Monbetsu was... also he understood Japanese.
In the end, I quit climbing with my "tyrant" Japanese climber partner, had a fight, and started to climb with Tony and a swish girl, and it was so much fun.
Tony knew about Yoshida. I bet that earned a credit. An American climber who climbed in Hokkaido, knows Yoshida.
This time, when I am going to Hokkaido, to look for a place to live, I asked Tony where I should go in Hokkaido. He said it's Guts wall.
Guts wall
It was, though, very hard to get to Guts wall... I couldn't make it at my first attempt even though it is a domestic travel. Too cold to stray... Asahikawa was -12 degree Celsius and I was new to the town and a bus came only 1 in a hour.
I consulted a professional... a lady in a bus company, and even she took at least 15 min. to understand how to get there and get back. Tricky was going back to the town... you have to use a different bus.
But it was worth visiting... there.. I met a long time Yoshida's belayer and his hand written diary.
This is Yoshida's hand written diary... it says...
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in 70's "climbing bum" was considered a romantic word and popular, the life without money was a synonyms of freedom.
You make pancake. If you can't, you are not a climber.
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So I passed the exam of Yoshida. I make "protein added" pancake all the time.
I kind of knew Yoshida was targeted by male's jealousy... everyone is jealous of him.
When I was belaying him, I asked every senior climbers who also has a spare time and all of them said no.
Yoshida chose to live just for climbing... a full time climber was such a sweet word for every male climbers...
Yoshida disliked Yuji, a world's favorite Japanese climber... Yuji sacrificed nothing... fame, wealth, records, marriage...no one can beat him...
On the other hand, Yoshida sacrificed everything... financial independence, fame, maybe love, and maybe health... in the later days, when he was climbing "Day dream" with me, he was so weak.
In retrospect, I kind of imagine he was losing his game on purpose... because he sacrificed everything for rock and rock has given him back so little. I was a very obedient belayer but certainly, that was not enough to him...
The "Day dream" a thin crack was climbed later on by young climber at age 25.
There was only a short article, 1 page... on it on the rock&snow magazine, and there were 14 pages of chalk advertisement on the same magazine... so that's it.
He lost. Yoshida lost. lost to what? Chalk as an aid climb. Materialism.
The guts wall was such a small gym.
However, the connection between people, and the love to the crag, respecting the nature and tradition of climbing bum... is kept in such a place.
I like to go to Miharashi crag where Yoshida has a lot of routes, anyone who likes to join, is welcome.
I asked to the owner, Iwase san, a question.
"I was told, to make a good route set in the plastic, you have to climb in the crag, and know the rock, what do you think?"
Because I just can't love plastic, even though I can have a endless fun at crags...I like natural rock but that seems like not enough to be a good climber nowadays...
He responded to me, he does not know neither... so I knew he was a honest person. I myself trying so hard to find the answer.
On my way back, in a car, someone gave me a ride, I was thinking that Yoshida might be the last climber who could get away without plastic but still get to climb "the world's hardest"... The time had changed. Today's climber thinks that plastic is the climb.
So this is the last resort of comfort of past Yoshida. He had climbed a lot of crags and that made him happy. Fully happy.
Resource
Yoshida’sBlog
http://blog.livedoor.jp/hardlucktome/
Miharashi Topo small crag with "Hard luck to me 5.14a" long time 14 in Japan
https://www.climbing-net.com/iwaba_detail/%E8%A6%8B%E6%99%B4%E5%B2%A9/
on The Rock&Snow 074
https://lowfatclibmer.blogspot.com/2016/12/rock-snow-73.html
on the Rock&Snow 087
https://micki-pedia.com/rock-snow-087.html
Naoki Komine who climbed Yoshida's Daydream 5.14b
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E5%B3%B0%E7%9B%B4%E5%9F%8E