Shōmyō Falls

Interesting facts

The lip of the falls is wearing back by about 10 centimetres a year, and some 10,000 years ago it stood roughly 15 kilometres further downstream.

Above the falls the river runs through Shōmyō Rōka, a narrow, sheer-walled gorge cut into the welded tuff of the plateau.

The Midagahara plateau that feeds the falls is volcanic in origin and took shape roughly 100,000 years ago.

In 1945 a wartime power company began boring a hydroelectric intake at the falls; work stopped with Japan's surrender, and drill marks remain near the third pool.

In periods of very heavy flow, a third waterfall known as Sōmen Falls can briefly appear on the same cliff alongside Shōmyō and Hannoki.

Despite its great height, the main stream of the falls is only about 10 to 15 metres wide.

Why it is worth it

Shōmyō Falls is the tallest permanent waterfall in Japan: the Shōmyō River leaves the edge of the Midagahara plateau and drops 350 metres in four stages, of 70, 58, 96 and 126 metres, down the walls of a deep gorge in the Tateyama range of the Northern Alps. At the bottom the water has scoured a plunge pool about 60 metres across and around 6 metres deep. The roar of the water fills the whole canyon.

The volume depends on the mountains above. Precipitation in this part of the Tateyama range exceeds 6,000 millimetres a year, much of it falling as snow, so the falls run fullest in early and mid summer, when the snowfields on the plateau melt. In that season a second waterfall, Hannoki Falls, appears beside it on the same cliff, and the two pour down almost side by side. Hannoki measures about 497 metres, taller than Shōmyō, but it is fed only by meltwater and usually runs only from spring into July, which is why the title of Japan's highest waterfall is normally given to its steadier neighbour. Erosion keeps reshaping the rock face, and in recent years the beginnings of a fifth step have been noted in the cascade.

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.

Getting there

The falls lie in the town of Tateyama, about 20 km from Kamiichi, the nearest city. A walking path of about 1.3 km leads up the gorge from the end of Prefectural Road 170, and buses run there from Tateyama Station, the terminus of the Toyama Chihō Railway Tateyama Line. The nearest airport is Toyama Airport (TOY), about 31 km away.

From the encyclopaedia

Shōmyō Falls are located in the town of Tateyama, Toyama Prefecture, Japan. It is the highest waterfall in Japan at 350 m (1,150 ft). The falls have four stages: the first 70 m (230 ft), the second 58 m (190 ft), the third 96 m (315 ft) and the last 126 m (413 ft) high. The greatest amount of water flows over the falls in the early to mid-summer, when the snow in the Tateyama Mountains melts.

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Shōmyō Falls

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia