Genbikei

photo by 663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by Ippukucho · CC BY 3.0

You put money in a basket on the rock: your snack comes back from the other bank by cable.

For two kilometres the Iwai River has carved a gorge into the volcanic tuff of Mount Kurikoma, with potholes, small waterfalls and rocks eroded into various shapes. The draw of the place is the ‘flying dango’: you put a coin in a basket hung on the rocks, and a stall on the opposite bank sends back the dango skewers and the tea, sliding them along a cable stretched over the stream.

A gorge in the municipality of Ichinoseki, formed by the Iwai River eroding dacitic tuff deposited by the volcanic activity of Mount Kurikoma. A national Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument (名勝天然記念物) since 5 September 1927.

ℹ️ Open, free access; the path along the gorge can be walked at any hour. The flying dango stall has its own opening hours and stays open until roughly the end of November. By bus, 20 minutes from JR Ichinoseki Station (Iwate Kentsu line to Genbikei); the bus stop is the terminus.

🚉 厳美渓 · 1 min walk

Sources: genbicc.jp · online.bunka.go.jp · ichitabi.jp · tenki.jp

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