North Kumamoto · Aso-OguniNo.524★★★Open in map →

Nabegataki Falls

natureThe classic — done right

A wide, thin waterfall in the hills of Oguni on the northern rim of the Aso caldera, with a walkway that leads into the dry hollow behind the falling water. Entry is by timed ticket booked online.

FromHakata, Fukuoka
~3 hrHighway bus, then taxi
Get off atYu Station, Michi-no-Eki Oguni (highway bus stop)
From there
Nabegataki Falls

Directions ↗

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Behind Nabegataki FallsYoshitaka Okino / CC BY-SA 4.0

The path down from the gatea stepped forest walkway dropping from the ticket gate to the level of the river
The face of the fallsone unbroken sheet of water leaving the lava lip and hanging clear of the rock
The hollow behind the waterthe undercut space you can walk into, with the fall as a lit screen in front of you
The riverbed below the poolwet, uneven rock where the spray reaches, with sticks kept nearby for the footing

How to actually get there

Hakata Station or Fukuoka Airport → Yu Station, Michi-no-Eki Oguni (highway bus toward Kurokawa Onsen, about 2 hr 30 min).
Yu Station → Nabegataki park entrance (taxi; no bus route reaches the falls).
Ticket gate → the falls (stepped forest path down to the riverbed, then round into the hollow behind the water).
Back up the same path and taxi to Yu Station for the return bus.

Highway bus from Hakata, then a taxi: From Hakata Station or Fukuoka Airport take the highway bus toward Kurokawa Onsen and get off at Yu Station, the michi-no-eki in central Oguni. The ride is about 2 hours 30 minutes. From there it is a taxi to the falls: no bus route serves them and the distance is well beyond walking. Ask the driver to come back for you, because taxis do not wait at the gate.
Return from Yu Station: Taxi back to Yu Station and pick up the highway bus toward Fukuoka there. Services are a handful a day rather than hourly, so read the departure board at the terminal before you head out to the falls. Buses toward Aso Station and Tsuetate Onsen also start from the same forecourt if you are staying in the area.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

The falls are at Kurobuchi in Oguni town, in the hills north of the Aso caldera. The water leaves the lip in a single sheet about 20 metres across and drops clear of the rock face. Because the softer rock beneath the cap has worn back, there is a dry space behind the fall, and the walkway leads into it. From in there the daylight comes through the water rather than off it. Both the prefectural tourism body and the Oguni tourism association describe the site as a gated park with a staffed entrance, not an open stretch of riverbank.

How to enjoy it

Book a slot rather than turning up and hoping, because busy dates admit reservation holders only. Last admission is 16:30 and the gate closes at 17:00, so an early-afternoon slot leaves room to stay in the hollow a while and still walk the slope back up without hurrying. Grip on your shoes matters here more than anything you carry.

Background & history

The rock the water pours over was laid down by the huge eruption that formed the Aso caldera about 90,000 years ago, and both the prefectural tourism site and the Oguni tourism association trace the ledge to that event. Erosion since has cut back the softer layers underneath and left the face overhanging, which is what makes the hollow. The falls were known mainly within the district until a green-tea commercial was filmed here; visitors arrived in numbers after that, and the town eventually put the site behind a booking system.

Before you go

Cash: Admission is 300 yen for high-school age and above and 150 yen for primary and junior-high pupils; children below school age enter free and need no booking. Tickets are bought online for a set date and time — telephone booking is not accepted — and same-day purchase is possible, though busy dates sell out and become reservation-only.
Good to know: The park is shut for the New Year period, 28 December to 3 January, and closes at short notice under heavy-rain, flood or typhoon warnings and after an earthquake. The riverbed around the fall is wet, uneven and slippery; walking sticks are kept at the site for anyone who wants one.
Another way: By car, Oguni is about an hour from Hita IC and about an hour and a half from Kumamoto IC, and roughly 25 minutes from Kurokawa Onsen. The park has room for 123 vehicles, although full-size coaches cannot enter.
After you get off: Yu Station is the highway-bus stop and michi-no-eki in the middle of Oguni. The falls are not within walking distance of it, so take a taxi from the forecourt. You are set down at the park entrance; from the ticket gate a stepped path drops through the woods to the water.