Kokichi Akuzawa almost gave up during his trek to became the oldest person to summit Mount Fuji at 102 years old.

His achievement is now recognized by Guinness World Records after he reached the top in early August.

"I was really tempted to give up halfway through,” Akuzawa told The Associated Press in an interview in his home in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, Japan.

Akuzawa climbed with his 70-year-old daughter Motoe, his granddaughter, her husband and four friends from a local mountain climbing club.

The climbing party camped for two nights on the trail before their August 5 ascent to the top of Japan’s tallest mountain, which peaks at 3,776 meters (12,388 feet).

He spoke to The Associated Press with the help of his 75-year-old daughter Yukiko, who repeated questions into her father’s ear because he is hard of hearing.

The trip was not Akuzawa’s first record-breaking ascent up Mount Fuji. He was 96 the first time he became the oldest person to scale Japan's most famous mountain. In the six years since, he overcame heart issues, shingles and stitches from a climbing fall.

Akuzawa spent three months training before the Fuji climb, waking at 5 a.m. for hourlong walks and tackling roughly one mountain each week, mostly around Nagano prefecture to the west of Gunma in central Japan.

Surrounded by relatives and framed paintings of mountains in his home in Maebashi, about 241 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Tokyo, Akuzawa recalls what first drew him to the mountains 88 years ago. While the magic of reaching the summit is undeniable, it was the people who kept him coming back.

"I climb because I like it,” he said.

Akuzawa once enjoyed climbing solo, but with the passing years as his strength decreased he leaned more on help from others. His record climb last month was another test that he passed with assistance.

These days, Akuzawa spends his mornings volunteering at a senior care center and teaching painting at his home studio.

Mountaineering and painting demand time and dedication but both offer peace, he said.

Akuzawa's daughters want him to paint Fuji at sunrise for the next addition to the depictions of mountain ranges covering his living room walls.

AP video shot by Mayuko Ono