North Kumamoto · KikuchiNo.1183★★Open in map →
Kikuchi Gorge
A walking path along the upper Kikuchi River where it comes off the Aso rim, under old forest, past falls and deep pools set close together. The water is volcanic groundwater and stays cold through the summer.
- FromKumamoto Airport
- ~1 hrCar or taxi, no bus to the gorge
- Get off atKikuchi Onsen · Shimin Hiroba-mae (bus stop)
- From there
- Kikuchi Gorge
The sweet spot
Kikuchi Gorge is a known Kumamoto name, signposted and staffed, with car parks sized for coaches, so it is not a secret. What limits the numbers is that no bus comes here. Scheduled services stop down in Kikuchi town and the last climb has to be driven. Visits also bunch into the two obvious weeks of autumn colour, which leaves the rest of the open season easier going.
Where it is
18 more notes in Kumamoto · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Kakemaku Fallsthe first fall above the entrance, dropping straight into a pool beside the path
- Reimei Fallsa low wide fall where the channel opens out and the path runs level with the water
- Tengu Fallsa narrow chute against dark rock, higher up where the valley tightens
- Yonjusanman Fallsthe gorge's signature fall and the one carried on Japan's list of a hundred waterfalls
- Hirogawarathe broad shallow riverbed at the top of the walk, where the water spreads over flat rock
How to actually get there
- Kumamoto Airport → Kikuchi Gorge by rental car or taxi, the last climb on prefectural route 45.
- Park at the entrance and pay the admission at the ticket point.
- Follow the river upstream past Kakemaku, Reimei and Tengu falls to Yonjusanman Falls.
- Carry on to the broad riverbed at Hirogawara, then return by the same path.
- Drive from Kumamoto Airport
- Aso Kumamoto Airport → Kikuchi Gorge takes about an hour by road, the figure given both by the gorge's own site and by the Kikuchi tourism association. The last stretch is prefectural route 45, the Aso-Kikuchi park road, which climbs steadily and narrows in places. Three car parks serve the entrance, the first holding around eighty cars and the other two opening in the busy season. Parking is free and the entrance is staffed.
- Back down the same park road
- The return is route 45 down to Kikuchi town, then across the plain to the airport or the expressway. Start down before the gate closes rather than after it: the road has no lighting and the bends come quickly in the dark. If you are heading for Aso instead of back to the city, the park road carries on east along the rim rather than doubling back.
About the place
The gorge follows the upper Kikuchi River down the north-west flank of the Aso outer rim, through a recreation forest of about 1,193 hectares lying between 500 and 800 metres. The river here is groundwater from the volcano, surfacing cold and clear rather than running down from a snowfield. Old fir, hemlock and zelkova close over the channel, so the light on the water arrives filtered instead of direct. One bank carries a stretch of the Kyushu Nature Trail while the other holds the main path. Falls, rapids and deep green pools follow one another closely enough that the walk is a sequence rather than a single set piece.
How to enjoy it
The entrance is staffed from 8:30 to 17:00, and the cool is the point: the water averages about 13°C through the summer, so the air along the path stays noticeably colder than the plain below. Walk up as far as Hirogawara and back rather than turning at the first fall, because the sequence is the experience. Autumn colour draws the heaviest traffic, while early summer, with new leaf over the water, is the quieter half of the same walk.
Background & history
The valley holds no temple and no castle; what made its name is the water. The spring that feeds the Kikuchi River was chosen for Japan's list of a hundred famous waters, Yonjusanman Falls for the list of a hundred waterfalls, and the forest around them for two further national selections, one for forest bathing and one for water-source woodland. The land lies inside a special protection zone of Aso-Kuju National Park, the strictest grade the park system applies. That is part of why the gorge still has only a path, a kiosk and toilets.
Before you go
- Cash
- Admission is charged at the entrance from high-school age upward, 500 yen, and younger children go free. Car parking is free. Bring the fee in cash. There is a kiosk and there are toilets at the entrance and nothing at all along the path, so carry water and whatever you want to eat.
- Before you go
- The staffed season runs from 1 April to 30 November, and the entrance keeps set hours within it. The path is unlit and the rock stays wet, so this is not a place to be caught by dusk. Heavy rain lifts the river quickly and can shut the walk, so check the official site on the morning you go.
- Another way
- Without a car, take a Kumamoto Dentetsu bus from Kumamoto to Kikuchi Onsen and continue from the Shimin Hiroba-mae stop by taxi; the tourism association also runs a booked shared taxi from the onsen area up to the gorge. From Fukuoka the drive is about two hours and ten minutes by expressway. Kumamoto Airport is the nearest place to pick up a rental car.
- After you get off
- Shimin Hiroba-mae in Kikuchi town is as close as scheduled buses get, and the gorge is a further climb east by road with no walking route worth taking. Drivers go straight to the entrance car parks, where the path starts at the ticket point and follows the river upstream.