Japanese Martial Arts Fighter-Turned-Mountaineer to Take on Mt. Everest

By Masato Kawai / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

6:00 JST, April 1, 2026

KAI, Yamanashi — Martial arts fighter-turned-mountaineer Ryota Masuda of Kai, Yamanashi Prefecture, will make his first attempt to climb Mt. Everest, located on the border between Nepal and China, in May.

If successful, it will mark his fourth scaling of a continent’s highest peak.

Masuda, 42, plans to carry the flag of Kai, adorned with messages of support from residents, when he climbs what is the world’s highest mountain at 8,848 meters.

Masuda will depart Monday for Kathmandu before spending about a week making his way to the base camp located at an altitude of about 5,000 meters. He will then undergo around a month of training to adjust to the high altitude, aiming to reach the summit by late May with the help of a local guide.

A native of Chiba Prefecture, Masuda dropped out of college when he was 21 and joined Pancrase, a Tokyo-based mixed martial arts organization he had long admired. Despite sucessfully going professional at the relatively late age of 26, he struggled with poor performance and felt mentally trapped.

Then he saw an advertisement on a train featuring Mt. Takao in Tokyo. Desperate to pursue something else, Masuda decided to try mountain climbing — something he had never done before.

Without any prior knowledge or proper gear, he could only rely on his physical strength. But he soon found himself “forgetting stress of everyday living [when climbing] and becoming completely absorbed [in the sport].”

Retiring from martial arts at 29, Masuda took on Mt. Kilimanjaro, scaling the highest peak in Africa, with no hesitation. After learning the basics of mountaineering at a climbing club in Tokyo, he conquered the highest peaks on two other continents: Mt. Denali, or Mt. McKinley, North America’s tallest mountain, and Mt. Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America.

Having begun thinking of scaling Mt. Everest at 33, he started working at a mountain hut on Mt. Fuji, believing, “If I go to Japan’s highest peak, I will be one step closer to the world’s highest mountain.” He then became a mountain guide.

With the help of a Nepalese colleague he met there, he was introduced to a guide working around Mt. Everest and began preparing in earnest.

Since moving to Kai three years ago, he has worked at a semiconductor chip manufacturing plant. While continuing gym workouts and maintaining an athlete’s diet based on chicken breast and mixed-grain rice, he has raised about ¥8 million toward climbing through crowdfunding and corporate sponsorships.

In February, he was presented with a 90-centimeter high, 135-centimeter wide flag of the city, bearing words of encouragement from Kai Mayor Takeshi Hosaka. On March 18, a send-off party was held by supporters in the city, and many messages written on the flag.

“Every step of the process toward summiting, from fundraising and finding collaborators to traveling to the site, is part of the appeal of mountaineering,” Masuda said. “I want to plant the city flag on Mt. Everest, and then conquer the highest peaks of all seven continents.”