Nishizawa Keikoku

photo by shinohal · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by shinohal · CC BY-SA 3.0

Nanatsugama Falls drops in five tiers, twenty metres, and is among the most beautiful in Japan.

The path follows the Ninuki stream in Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park, between rock walls and emerald-green pools, as far as the Nanatsugama-Godan no Taki (七ツ釜五段の滝, ‘five-tier waterfall of the seven cauldrons’), selected as one of the hundred most beautiful waterfalls in Japan. The route, once a forest railway, still has stretches of track in the woods.

Gorge on the upper course of the Ninuki River, upstream of Lake Hirose, in the municipality of Yamanashi; its twin branch, Higashizawa, further north, requires mountaineering skills and is off limits to ordinary hikers.

ℹ️ The path is open and free, with a 60-space car park at the entrance (404-0201, Yamanashi-shi Mitomi Kawaura). Closed every winter because of snow and the risk of falling rocks, reopening on a variable date in late April (in the 2024–25 season: closed from 1 December, reopened on 29 April). By bus, 60 minutes from Yamanashi-shi Station or Enzan Station.

Sources: ja.wikipedia.org · yamanashishi-kankou.com

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