Kazuma Ise of Japan has climbed the 8C / V15 “Byaku-dou” in Horai at only 17 years old. The route is a Dai Koyamada project originally put up in 2003 featuring a steep overhanging set of terrible pockets. The beta Kazuma used starts off feet facing up before swinging back around, then switching back and forth with heel hooks throughout. There is also a horrific looking dyno to a mono pocket.
Kazuma Ise posted a video of the climb on his instagram which you can see below. He sent the problem on the 8th of Jan after just four days of projecting it! Ise was climbing 8B boulders at 15 years of age. According to 8a.nu Ise is looking to future projects that include “United” 8C+ / V16 (watch video of Ryuichi Murai FA) in Mt Mizugaki, Japan.
The last top of this boulder was when 13 Year Old Mishka Ishi became the youngest person to climb V15 – an astounding feat from last year. The first repeat was Motochika Nagao in 2015 and you can watch a video of his top in the Mishka Ishi post. The second repeat was Ryuichi Murai and he has also has a video up here. The FA was by Dai Koyamada – a legendary Japanese boulderer who has opened seventeen boulders of V15 and above (one V16).
Japan has been pumping out some of the world’s hardest boulderers for the past decade now, and is set to win big in the 2020 Olympics. We can also expect way more hard outside bouldering in the coming season as Japan has a huge amount of world class hard boulders. After a stunning last year, Tomoa Narasaki may take Gold in 2020 after showing dominance in Bouldering, excelling in Lead and surprisingly well in Speed. Along with Tomoa, Kai Harada has also qualified for a spot in the Men’s side, with veteran Akiyo Noguchi and Miho Nonaka taking spots in the Women’s category.
