Chiba · Kimitsu, BosoNo.945★★Open in map →

Kameiwa Cave and Nomizo Falls

natureOff the trail — and worth it

A free river park in inland Kimitsu, Chiba, where a stream runs through a hand-cut Edo-period tunnel and falls out the far side. Around the equinoxes the low morning sun and its reflection close into a heart inside the opening.

FromTokyo Stn
~2 hrExpress bus, then a walk
Get off atKimitsu Furusato Bussankan (Axie-go express bus)
From there
Kameiwa Cave and Nomizo Falls

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

This is not an undiscovered place. It is one of the most photographed sights in Chiba and Japanese visitors arrive by the coachload. Two things still make it workable: almost none of that traffic is from overseas, and the effect it is famous for only exists in the first light of a handful of mornings each year. Outside that window the crowd thins and what is left is an ordinary, good walk along a stream.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Michi-no-Eki Fureai Park Kimitsuthe roadside station at the bus stop, with local produce, local sake and a dam museum
The walkway down to the streama graded path of boardwalk and steps from the prefectural road into the valley
The Bell of Good Fortunea bell set beside the walkway, hung for good luck and long life
The cave mouth and the fallsthe tunnel opening, the pool beneath it and the drop on the far side

How to actually get there

Bus Terminal Tokyo Yaesu, bay B11 → Kimitsu Furusato Bussankan (Axie-go express bus, no reservation).
Kimitsu Furusato Bussankan → Shimizu Keiryu Hiroba (walk about 2 km south on Route 24, roughly 20 min).
Follow the boardwalk down past the bell to the viewing point at the cave mouth.
Return to the same stop for buses back toward Tokyo, or on toward Kamogawa.

Axie-go express bus from Tokyo Station: Bus Terminal Tokyo Yaesu, bay B11 →(Axie-go express bus toward Awa-Kamogawa)→ Kimitsu Furusato Bussankan, then a walk of about 20 minutes south along Chiba Prefectural Route 24. Allow roughly two hours from Tokyo Station to the stream. The service takes no reservation and runs through the day, but note your return departure before you leave the terminal.
Return from the same stop: Walk back up the prefectural road to Kimitsu Furusato Bussankan and take the Axie-go north toward Kisarazu and Tokyo. This is a roadside stop with no ticket office, so read the posted times when you arrive rather than after dark. Evening departures thin out — fix your return before you go down to the water.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Shimizu Keiryu Hiroba is a small river park in the Sasa district of Kimitsu, on the inland side of the Boso peninsula. A path of boardwalk and steps drops from the prefectural road to the stream, where the water disappears into a rock tunnel and falls out again beyond it. The rock at the opening is said to resemble a turtle, which is where the name Kameiwa comes from. There are three car parks and all of them are free; there is no ticket gate. The site is signed under two names, Nomizo Falls and Kameiwa Cave, and both point at the same short stretch of water.

How to enjoy it

Kimitsu City puts the heart-shaped reflection at the equinox weeks in March and September, in the hour from about 6:30 to 7:30 in the morning, when the sun is low enough to reach inside the opening. Outside those weeks the light does not close the shape, but the stream, the tunnel and the walk are there all year and far quieter. If you want that hour, check whether the first bus of the day actually reaches the stop before sunrise before you build a trip around it.

Background & history

The tunnel is not natural. It was cut in the Edo period as a kawamawashi, a river diversion that took a looping stream straight through rock so the drained bed above could be opened as rice paddy. The step at the downstream end of the cut is the waterfall. A rock at the opening was thought to look like a turtle, and that gave the cave its name. The place stayed local until photographs of the tunnel spread on social media as a scene out of a Studio Ghibli film. The name Nomizo Falls travelled with those pictures, and the city now signs both names together.

Before you go

Cash: The park and its car parks are free and there is no ticket gate. The express bus takes no reservation and the fare is paid on the day, so carry cash in case card payment is not available on your service. Food, drink and shopping are at the roadside station by the bus stop, not at the stream.
Good to know: Kimitsu City warns that the ground in front of the cave mouth is exposed to falling rock and slope collapse, and sections of the walkway have been closed off in the past. There is no lighting on the path, so a first-light visit means arriving in the dark. Boardwalk and rock are slippery after rain.
Another way: From Chiba Station, the Kapiina-go express bus uses the same stop. By rail, take the JR Kururi Line to Kazusa-Kameyama and use Kimitsu City's on-demand shared taxi, which must be booked ahead on 0439-27-3188.
After you get off: Kimitsu Furusato Bussankan is the stop for the roadside station Fureai Park Kimitsu. From there walk south on Chiba Prefectural Route 24 for about two kilometres, roughly 20 minutes, to the car parks at Shimizu Keiryu Hiroba. The descent to the stream starts there.