The Most Beautiful Waterfalls in Japan
5 places · updated 13 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful waterfalls in Japan are Kegon Falls, Shiraito Falls and Shōmyō Falls. The list covers 5 waterfalls. Last updated 13 October 2026.
Japan is mountainous, volcanic and wet, a combination that makes waterfalls almost inevitable. Steep ranges catch heavy rain and snow, lava flows dam valleys into lakes that spill over their rims, and porous volcanic rock releases springwater in curtains. In Shinto belief, many falls are themselves sacred, home to kami, and pilgrims have stood beneath them for centuries.
Kegon Falls in Nikkō drops about 97 metres from the outlet of Lake Chūzenji, a lake formed by the eruption of Mount Nantai. Shiraito Falls near Mount Fuji is a wide curtain of countless threads of water seeping from layers of lava, part of the Fujisan World Heritage site. Shōmyō Falls in Toyama tumbles 350 metres in four tiers from the Tateyama plateau. Nachi Falls, a single drop of 133 metres in the Kii Mountains, is worshipped at Kumano Nachi Taisha and framed by a vermilion pagoda. Fukiware Falls in Gunma is unlike the others: the river pours sideways into a long cleft in its rocky bed.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kegon Falls | Waterfall | |
| 2 | Shiraito Falls | Waterfall | |
| 3 | Shōmyō Falls | Waterfall | |
| 4 | Nachi Falls | Waterfall | ✓ |
| 5 | Fukiware Falls | Waterfall |
01 Kegon Falls
Japan · 39 km from Utsunomiya36.738° N 139.502° E
Orbixx · CC BY-SA 3.0 The town of Nikkō, in Tochigi Prefecture, lies down in the valley. It is best known for the lavishly decorated shrines and temples of Tōshō-gū and Rinnō-ji, inscribed together by UNESCO as the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō, and it is the gateway to Nikkō National Park, established in 1934.
Did you know? After a dry autumn in 2023 the daytime release was cut to 0.1–0.3 tonnes per second, so the main fall briefly carried less water than the seeping Twelve Falls.
02 Shiraito Falls
Japan · 37.5 km from Kōfu35.313° N 138.589° E
InvictusOU812 from USA · CC BY 2.0 Shiraito Falls was designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument in 1936, and is listed among Japan's Top 100 Waterfalls. In 2013 it was inscribed as one of the component sites of the World Heritage property "Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration". The 25-metre Otodome Falls lies about a five-minute walk away and is protected as part of the same site. Both lie within Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, in the city of Fujinomiya.
Did you know? Shiraito is sometimes counted among Japan's three great waterfalls, alongside far taller rivals.
03 Shōmyō Falls
Japan · 29.7 km from Toyama36.575° N 137.523° E
kahusi ( 會話 ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 The name comes from Buddhist devotion. Tradition holds that the monk Hōnen, hearing the thunder of the water, likened it to the chanting of the nembutsu, the invocation "Namu Amida Butsu"; shōmyō here means calling on the name of the Buddha. The falls are designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty and a Natural Monument, are included in Japan's selection of its hundred finest waterfalls and in its list of a hundred notable soundscapes, and are sometimes counted among the country's three great waterfalls.
Did you know? The Midagahara plateau that feeds the falls is volcanic in origin and took shape roughly 100,000 years ago.
04 Nachi Falls
Japan33.672° N 135.891° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Image by pen_ash from Pixabay The shrine is also a stop on the Kumano Kodo, the network of pilgrimage trails through the Kii mountains that UNESCO lists as a World Heritage site alongside the temples of Nara and Kyoto — one of the few pilgrimage routes anywhere to get that designation. Walking the last stretch of trail down to the falls, past centuries-old cedars, gives some sense of why this particular stretch of falling water earned that kind of staying power.
Did you know? Each of the festival's fan shrines is assembled with exactly 365 bamboo nails, one for every day of the year.
05 Fukiware Falls
Japan · 36.4 km from Maebashi36.702° N 139.207° E
Σ64 · CC BY 3.0 The falls are a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument and were included in the 1990 selection of Japan's hundred finest waterfalls. They have their own card in Jōmo Karuta, the traditional card game that teaches the landmarks of Gunma Prefecture, and served as a backdrop for the 2000 NHK historical drama Aoi. Local tradition connects the pool beneath the falls with a dragon palace that once lent villagers its bowls for feasts, one of many versions of a folktale told across Japan about borrowed dishes that were never returned.
Did you know? Fanciful rock outcrops along the gorge carry names such as Hannya Rock, after the horned demon mask of Noh theatre, and Lion Rock.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful waterfalls in Japan?
- On our list, Kegon Falls ranks first, followed by Shiraito Falls and Shōmyō Falls.
- What is the tallest waterfall in Japan?
- Shōmyō Falls in Toyama Prefecture, at 350 metres, is the tallest permanent waterfall. In spring meltwater, the neighbouring Hannoki Falls runs higher but dries up later in the year.
- What are the three great waterfalls of Japan?
- Kegon Falls in Nikkō, Nachi Falls in Wakayama and Fukuroda Falls in Ibaraki are traditionally named together as Japan's three great waterfalls.
- Why is Nachi Falls sacred?
- The falls themselves are worshipped as a kami in the Kumano faith. The shrine of Kumano Nachi Taisha grew up around them, and both are part of the UNESCO-listed pilgrimage routes of the Kii Mountains.
- How many waterfalls are on this list in Japan?
- The list covers 5 waterfalls.