Boulder problems

One of the most celebrated and oft-tried testpieces in Japan, Mushi is a rite of passage. An obvious line at Tokyo's popular Mitake bouldering area, it was apparently tried by Jerry Moffatt on a flying visit in 1984. It took the extended efforts of Japanese bouldering pioneer Toshimichi Kusano to unlock the problem's secrets, creating the second 3-Dan (7C+/8A) in Japan, after Kani.

Toshimichi Kusano recounts his process:

After 'Kani', I already knew what I wanted to try next. The line started on Ninja Gaeshi, then reached out toward a seductive lip hold that seemed to beckon climbers closer — this would become Mushi (“Bug”). It was a legendary line, said to have been spotted and attempted by the British superstar Jerry Moffatt when he visited Japan in 1984. And yet no one had seriously tried it since.

It wasn’t hard to see why. The first left-hand vertical hold is slick and tiny — enough to make most people give up right there. Still, I kept going. After that hold, I’d try lunging across from a left-hand crimp in a kind of cross move. No good. It didn’t feel possible.

But I couldn’t stop thinking that maybe one day it would be. I started visiting Mitake more often. And really, at that point, that stunning and mysterious line felt like it belonged to me alone. There was no reason not to try.

Then winter — the season when holds stay dry — came to an end. As always, spring brought a mix of urgency and doubt. Around then, I went to Mitake with Takahashi, a tall friend. We were trying to work the upper section, and he pushed me from below so I could stick to the wall. There was this tiny dimple I’d always noticed from the ground — I finally touched it. “This could work.”

He pushed me up again, and this time I grabbed that dimple with my right hand and started the sequence. I launched my left hand for the lip — and stuck it. “It goes!”

I can’t even remember if I went back for one more session or not, but now that I’d found the move, I was so excited to try again.

It was a crisp, sunny day in May 1996. I felt good. I began my usual quiet warm-up. Every move on Mushi was big, but it wasn’t cold, so my body moved well. I matched my right hand to that little dimple. I still had strength. I popped to the lip. My hand stuck. From here, it was unknown territory. But the holds were clear, my body moved naturally — and I climbed it. I stood on top of the boulder.

In Japanese, when someone is obsessed with something, we call them a bug for it — like a “climbing bug.” I wanted climbers to become bugs for climbing, and of course, to move across the rock like insects, freely and playfully. That’s why I named the line Mushi.

In 2001 Dai Koyamada went one further, traversing Kani (7C+) to finish up Mushi, creating the unrelenting power-endurance line Kani Mushi (8A+).

References

[1] Mitake Bouldering Guide

The first 8C+ in Japan. Around 30 moves.

The boulder was vandalised in 2018. Several holds were broken off, leaving larger holds.

References

[1] http://koyamada.dai.hiho.jp/?eid=867696#gsc.tab=0

Before the problem was put up there used to be a wall in front of the boulder to make a bivouac spot. The wall was knocked down for reasons unknown. [1]

References

[1] https://bleau.info/rocherbrule/59258.html

Climb All Elements (8A) into a pumpy lip traverse