An 11-year-old boy was found dead Wednesday morning off a steep mountain path on Mount Jyubu in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture, after he and his grandfather were reported missing.
Takeo Onaka, a 55-year-old truck driver, and his grandson, Ikuya Inoue, left their home in Tanabe, Kyoto Prefecture, on Tuesday afternoon to hike on the mountain, which was once a training ground for "yamabushi," mountain ascetics.
According to police, Onaka took Ikuya to see a waterfall on the trail, but slipped and fell about 20 meters at a section of the path where hikers must hold on to a chain attached to the rock.
Onaka sent Ikuya to get help, and police speculate the boy fell along the way.
Onaka was found at around 12:30 a.m. He suffered a broken shoulder and ribs. The boy was found at 6:45 a.m. in a valley 40 meters below the path. He was confirmed dead at a local hospital.
The two had traveled by car to Kontaiji Temple on the mountain and then set off on the trail, which takes about two hours to hike. Ikuya, who attended an elementary school in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, was visiting his grandparents during the summer vacation.
Neighbors and friends described Inoue as an active, kind and affectionate boy who was close to both his grandfather and grandmother.
"I remember Mr. Onaka's wife saying that their grandson had asked her husband to take him (to the mountain), and that the two left the house all smiles," a 75-year-old neighbor said.
Neighbors often saw the boy with his grandfather as they rode their bicycles or went hunting for beetles during his summer visits with his sister and mother.