Manaslu, Mountain in Gorkha District, Nepal

Manaslu is a granite summit in Gorkha District, Nepal, rising to 8,163 meters above sea level and marking the eighth highest point on Earth. The massif dominates the landscape of the Mansiri Himal region and shows steep rock walls plus extensive glaciers running from base to summit.

Japanese climbers Toshio Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu reached the summit first on May 9, 1956, establishing a long tradition of Japanese expeditions to this peak. Several earlier attempts had failed before this route through the northeast face brought success.

Manaslu derives from the Sanskrit manasa, meaning intellect or soul, and is rendered "mountain of the spirit". In Tibetan it is Kutan l, where tang denotes a flat place. The peak is also called Kutang, and the Japanese press long dubbed it the "Japanese mountain" after repeated Japanese expeditions.

The Manaslu trekking circuit, 177 km long, was opened to trekkers only in 1991 and follows an old salt-trading trail along the Budhi Gandaki River. Its high point is Larkya La at 5,106 m. The route crosses terrain prone to monsoon landslides, and hypothermia, altitude sickness and encounters with yaks are common hazards.

A false summit just below the true top was reported by the 1956 Japanese Alpine Club team. In 1974, climber Masako Uchida recalled the warning and pushed past a Sherpa claiming the false peak to reach the real summit. German mountain historian Eberhard Jurgalski later found that many climbers in the 2000s and 2010s stopped at the so-called "recognized peak".