KATHMANDU (AFP) -- A 71-year-old retired Japanese school teacher who has become the oldest person to summit Mount Everest said Tuesday he would not be climbing any more high peaks after reaching the roof of the world last week.

"I am finished with the high mountains after Everest. We have many, many small and beautiful mountains in Japan and I plan to enjoy them slowly," Katsusuke Yanagisawa told AFP.

The Japanese pensioner summited the world's highest peak on May 22, beating the record for oldest summiteer set by a 70-year-old compatriot last year.

Yanagisawa said he only got the idea of climbing Everest in October 2006, after he had conquered Cho Oyu, the world's sixth highest mountain at 8,201 meters.

"At that time I thought my Himalayan dream was finished but when Katsusuke (his Japanese guide) pointed out Everest from the summit of Cho Oyu I changed my mind," the frail-looking mountaineer said.

He credits his successful ascent of the 8,848-metre (29,198 foot) Everest to the expedition leader, legendary New Zealand climber Russel Brice and his team.

"Everybody who organized this, Russel Brice and his staff made it possible for me to summit," he said.

Other climbers on the expedition were initially skeptical that the bespectacled former teacher would make it to the top.

"When I saw the pace he was moving at, I had no idea that he was going to be able to summit, but his strategy paid off. He performed magnificently," said Mogens Jensen, a 34-year old Danish mountaineer who summited with Yanagisawa.

Yanagisawa didn't tell his family about his Everest bid until three weeks before his departure.

"If I'd have told them more in advance, they would have stopped me," he said.

The Japanese are renowned for their longevity and a growing number of fit senior citizens have taken to conquering mountains in retirement.

"Older Japanese people climb not because they like to do it when they are old, it's just that they don't have time before because of work and family," said Yanagisawa, who returns to Japan today.

A string of Japanese have successively broken the record for the oldest climbers of Everest.

"He is an inspiration for everybody who is aging, that dreams never stop and if you put your mind to it you can do it," said Jensen.