The Yayoi-sugi cedar is 3,000 years old: it inspired the forests of ‘Princess Mononoke’.
A gorge on the northern side of Yakushima, a recreational forest of 1,113 hectares between 100 and 1,300 metres, with eroded granite boulders such as the Taikoiwa. The area's emblematic cedar, the Yayoi-sugi, is estimated at 3,000 years old. Rainfall is among the heaviest in Japan: 7,400 mm a year at the mouth of the gorge, with a record of 10,441 mm in 2004. An old Edo-period stone trail, the Kusukawa, can still be walked.
Part of Yakushima National Park and of its recreational forest, but not included in the buffer zone of the UNESCO World Heritage Site (which covers another area of the island).
ℹ️ Shiratani Hut (1979) at 825 m, capacity 40 people. Free parking at the first and second car parks (620 m above sea level); bus from Miyanoura, about 35 minutes, 4 services a day.
🚉 Shiratani Unsuikyo · in front of the station
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Nearby
Yakushima5.1 kmphoto by Σ64 · CC BY 3.0
Yakusugi Land10.2 kmphoto by Grendelkhan · CC BY-SA 4.0