Yamagata · Mogami GorgeNo.571★★★Open in map →
Mogami Gorge Boat Ride
A roofed passenger boat runs one way down the Mogami gorge in northern Yamagata, from a wooden boarding hall at Furukuchi to a river station well downstream. It sails on every day of the year, and the boatman sings.
- FromFurukuchi Station (JR Rikuu-West Line)
- ~7 min on footJR Rikuu-West Line
- Mogami Gorge Boat Ride
Where it is
9 more notes in Yamagata · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Tozawa-han Funabanshothe boarding hall at Furukuchi, named for the domain's river checkpoint, with the ticket window in the gate
- The gorge itselfthe reach from Furukuchi down toward Kiyokawa, wooded ridges closing in on both banks
- Shiraito Fallsa fall of about 120 metres near the downstream end, written into Basho's travel diary
- Kawa-no-eki Mogamikyo Kusanagithe landing at the far end, a riverside station where the return bus and boat are arranged
How to actually get there
- Yamagata Shinkansen to Shinjo Station.
- Shinjo Station → Furukuchi Station (JR Rikuu-West Line).
- Walk about seven minutes from the station to the Tozawa-han Funabansho and buy a seat.
- Sail down to Kawa-no-eki Mogamikyo Kusanagi, then take the meeting bus, the return boat or the car shuttle.
- JR Rikuu-West Line to Furukuchi
- Furukuchi is a stop on the JR Rikuu-West Line, which links Shinjo with the Shonai coast; Shinjo is the terminus of the Yamagata Shinkansen. From the station the boarding hall is a short walk over the main road and down to the river. Trains on this line are not frequent, so read the timetable in both directions before you fix the day.
- Getting back from the landing
- The sailing is one way and the operator lists three ways back to Furukuchi: a local bus timed to meet arriving boats, a return sailing on the boat itself, or a car-shuttle service that drives your vehicle round to the landing while you are on the water. The bus is irregular rather than a fixed service, and the last sailing of the day has no return boat, so choose your method before you buy the outward seat.
About the place
The Mogami gorge runs from Furukuchi in Tozawa village down to Kiyokawa in Shonai, a narrow wooded corridor cut by a river counted among the three fastest in Japan. The passenger boats leave from a wooden hall called the Tozawa-han Funabansho, named for the river checkpoint the domain once kept here, and they are roofed, so rain does not take the view away. This is a scheduled service rather than a charter — one person can buy a single seat — and it is the only one of its kind in the gorge. A boatman works the stern and sings the Mogami river song while the banks go by.
How to enjoy it
The run takes about an hour, and because the boats sail all year with heating through the winter, this is not a summer-only outing — the gorge under snow in February is a different journey from the green one in May. Kotatsu boats, the ones with a heated table, are a private charter rather than the scheduled service; the ordinary winter boat is a heated snow-viewing boat. Only groups and meals need booking, so a single traveller can simply turn up and buy a seat.
Background & history
The gorge was the road before there were roads. The river carried goods and people between the inland basin and the Shonai coast, and a boat was the practical way through a valley too steep to build in. The poet Matsuo Basho came down this water on his journey north, boarding upstream at Motoai, where his verse about the summer rains gathering to hurry the Mogami is now cut into a stone. The tourist boats follow the working river; only the cargo has changed.
Before you go
- Cash
- Fares are paid at the boarding hall at Furukuchi, and they are set separately for winter and for the warm months, so take the current figure from the operator rather than from an old page. Group rates and meals on board have to be booked ahead; a single passenger on the scheduled service does not. There is a tax-free souvenir counter at the hall.
- Before you go
- Boats run every day of the year, but a sailing can be cancelled or turned into a short round trip when the weather or the water level demands it, and the operator asks you to telephone on the day. Winter here is a heavy-snow winter — the boat is heated and the gorge is at its most striking under snow, but the roads and the walk from the station are another matter. The charter route from Motoai, upstream, is suspended at present.
- Another way
- By car the boarding hall stands just off Route 47, which follows the gorge the whole way, and a new expressway link has shortened the drive in from the Yamagata basin. Upstream at Motoai there is a second landing, the one Basho used, but boats from there are charter only and are not running at the moment.
- After you get off
- From Furukuchi Station cross toward the river and walk about seven minutes to the wooden gate of the Tozawa-han Funabansho; the ticket window is set into the gate itself. A village bus covers the same short distance if you would rather not walk it in snow.