Takachiho Gorge

Takachiho Gorge is a narrow valley cut by the Gokase River at Takachiho, in the north of Miyazaki Prefecture. It was designated a Place of Scenic Beauty and a Natural Monument in 1934, and has been part of the Sobo-Katamuki Quasi-National Park since 1965.

The walls of the gorge are columnar jointing: rock split into upright columns, formed when a pyroclastic flow from a great eruption of Aso cooled and set. The river has cut down through it since, and the cliffs that stand above the water now are the result.

The waterfall at the centre of the gorge drops straight into the river between the cliffs, and is on the national list of a hundred waterfalls. In the old story there was no water here when the gods came down to the land, so Amenomurakumo brought the seed of water and set it at Ame-no-Manai, and what falls here is that water.

Rowing boats can be hired on the river below it. From the water the fall is seen from directly beneath.

Three bridges cross the gorge one above another: a stone arch at the bottom, a steel bridge above it and a concrete one above that. Having three in one place is unusual, and the view of them stacked is much photographed.

A fourth crossing, at the narrowest point of the river, is called the spear-leap bridge. When the castle at Mitai fell in 1591, retainers escaping the attack are said to have vaulted the gap on their spears, there being no bridge there then.