OTAKI, Nagano -- A memorial service was held in the village of Otaki, Nagano Prefecture, on Friday to mark the fifth anniversary of the eruption of Mt. Ontake, which left 58 people dead and five missing.
Among the participants in the memorial service, held in a park at the foot of the 3,067-meter mountain that straddles the border of Nagano and Gifu prefectures, was Masanori Nomura, 56, from Kariya, Aichi Prefecture. At the time of the eruption, he was climbing the mountain with his nephew, whose body has yet to be found. "I'll take you home," Nomura vowed during the service.
Nomura always carries two photos that he took on the day of the eruption. One shows him with his nephew, Ryota, then 19. It was taken using a self-timer at the start of a trail leading to the mountain in Otaki. The other shows Ryota standing in front of a hut near the summit of Mt. Otaki. Nomura took that picture at 11:40 a.m., 12 minutes before the eruption.
When the eruption occurred, the two were headed toward the summit on a ridge known as Hatcho Darumi.
After seeing volcanic smoke rising from a crater, they ran down the slope. A few seconds later, Nomura and Ryota, who was running in front of him, were engulfed in smoke.
Nomura held his head in his hands and crouched down to protect himself from the heat, while also holding a towel to his mouth and nose to prevent volcanic ash from suffocating him.
When the visibility became clearer, Nomura noticed that the ash had accumulated to a height near his knees. No matter how many times he called Ryota's name, there was no answer. He desperately searched in vain for his nephew.
Ryota lived with Nomura's brother not far from Nomura. For Nomura, who has no children, Ryota was just like a son. After climbing a mountain in Aichi Prefecture together, Ryota asked his uncle to take him to another mountain. Nomura chose Mt. Ontake because it is higher than the one he had climbed.
Nomura still rues the misfortune of having encountered an eruption, while also blaming himself for taking him to Mt. Ontake without recognizing it was a volcano.
The pole and backpack Ryota used at the time of the eruption were found during a subsequent search. However, entry to the area around Hatcho Domari remains restricted. Nomura hopes the ban will be lifted as soon as possible.
"Five years have passed and I have still failed to bring you home. I'll definitely find you, Ryota," Nomura said as he touched an inscription of his nephew's name on a stone monument in a corner of the park.
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