“I feel very honoured to be here,” said Tabei, cheered by hundreds of Nepalese as she rode through the streets in a horse-drawn carriage.

Tabei, 66, reached the summit of the 8,848-metre-high Everest in 1975 after leading an all-female Japanese team along a route on the south-east ridge.

She overcame many obstacles during the climb, including an avalanche, and finally reached the top on May 16.

Nepal planned celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the climb for May but delayed them until October to allow Tabei and her fellow climbers to attend.

Fellow mountaineers and Everest climbers cheered Tabei and the second woman to scale Everest, Pang Duo of Tibet, as they were taken in the carriage to a reception centre in Durbur Square in the heart of Kathmandu.

Other female Everest climbers from 10 countries — Japan, Nepal, China, Denmark, Iran, India, Ireland, Slovenia, New Zealand and Britain — were also at the civic reception.

Tabei is also the first woman to scale the highest peaks on all seven continents.

She had said she was attracted to mountaineering when she climbed Mount Nasu near Tokyo with a teacher when she was 10 years old.