Takachiho Gorge

When I visited Takachiho Gorge in Miyazaki prefecture, I was blown away by its stunning beauty. The Gokase River flows through a narrow, deep ravine surrounded by towering, verdant cliffs. It’s truly a sight to behold.

But that’s not all Takachiho has to offer. Takachiho Shrine sits in the town rather than in the gorge itself, about a fifteen-minute walk away. It is best known for the Yokagura sacred dance performed there nightly at 20:00.

I also visited Amano Iwato Shrine, which faces the cave where the sun goddess Amaterasu is said to have hidden herself away, plunging heaven and earth into darkness until the other gods coaxed her out. The cave is across the river from the shrine and can only be viewed from the observation deck, on a tour led by a priest.

The highlight of a visit to Takachiho Gorge is taking a boat out beneath the
Manai Falls. Be clear on what this is, though: it is not a guided cruise. You
rent a rowing boat and row it yourself, and whoever is at the oars has to be at
least middle-school age.

The practical details, from the Takachiho Tourist Association:

• 30 minutes per rental, ¥4,100–¥5,100 per boat depending on the date. Going over costs ¥1,000 per 10 minutes.
• Up to 3 people per boat (4 only if one is a preschooler).
• 08:30–17:00, last check-in 16:30. In August it runs to 18:00, last check-in 17:30.
• Online booking only, and it sells out. Reservations open two weeks ahead at 09:00 and close two days before. Phone and email bookings are not accepted, and you pay by card in advance.
• Boats are suspended when the river is high, during the safety inspections in January, April, July and October, and after an earthquake of shindo 3 or above.

If the boats are off or sold out, the walking path along the gorge gives you the
same view of the falls for nothing.

The Grand Super Cart

The other thing worth your time is the open-air cart run by the Takachiho
Amaterasu Railway. It is a 30-minute, 5-kilometre
round trip from Takachiho Station, out along the old railway line and through a
lit tunnel.

The line has a sad history behind it. Until 2005 this was the Takachiho Railway,
a real service running from Nobeoka up to Takachiho. Typhoon No. 14 wrecked it in
September of that year, the cost of repairs was judged too high, and the line was
formally abandoned at the end of 2008. The Amaterasu Railway was set up
afterwards to run tourist carts over the surviving stretch.

What that stretch includes is the Takachiho bridge — 353 m long and 105 m above
the water, the highest railway bridge in Japan. The cart stops on it. The view
is good in any season, but especially with the new green in spring and the colours
in autumn.

One nice detail: since August 2022 the cart has run on biodiesel refined from
waste cooking oil — including the leftover soup from tonkotsu ramen shops. The
exhaust is said to smell faintly of it.

Takachiho is about three hours from Miyazaki City and awkward to reach without a
car, so it is worth planning as an overnight rather than a day trip. The local
food is very good — try the grilled river fish.