Otaki Elementary and Middle School

The school festival, field day, and other big days students look forward to

Mt. Ontake has been thought of as one of Japan's most sacred mountain since ancient times and today attracts a large number of visitors, who come for both religious training and recreation. Otaki residents have a special affection for the peak they've grown up with. For the past several decades, students at the Otaki School have made excursions to Mt. Ontake once a year to clean up the litter left behind by climbers.

The clean-up is divided into two groups: Elementary school kids cover the area toward the base of the mountain, while the middle school students work from around Tanohara Natural Park, two-thirds of the way up the mountain, all the way up to the peak. The children take garbage bags and collect litter that's been tossed away along the trail. The mountain attracts a lot of worshipers and tourists each year, so there are large volumes of trash.

"The most common form of litter are cigarette butts, then come empty cans and candy wrappers," a middle school student said. "Once I even hauled down a car tire. Since we live next to the mountain, I climb it every year. There are a lot of ponds and the scenery is really beautiful. There's a legend that a dragon lives in one of the ponds."

To the children of Otaki, Mt. Ontake is like a hill in the back of their house.