Izu · Amagi, Izu CityNo.1056★★★Open in map →

Shizuoka Wasabi

— the wasabi terraces beside Joren Falls

foodThe classic — done right

Shizuoka grows most of Japan's wasabi, in stone-bedded terraces fed by cold spring water. The fields themselves are private, but the path down to Joren Falls in Izu runs beside one of them, with the fall and its blue pool at the bottom.

FromShuzenji Station
~35 minTokai Bus from Shuzenji, ~35 min
Get off atJoren-no-taki bus stop (Tokai Bus, Kawazu / Showa-no-Mori route)
On foot
Shizuoka Wasabi

Directions ↗

Where it is

16 more notes in Shizuoka · open the map →

What to look for — in walking order

Viewing deckthe first full sight of the fall, a couple of minutes below the car park
Stone stairwaythe flight of steps into the gorge, the only way down and the only way back up
Joren Fallsa pool 15 metres deep under the drop, with columnar basalt standing in the cliff beside it
Wasabi beds along the Hontani riverstone-bedded terraces fed by spring water, worked ground fenced off from the path
Amagi trout pondsthe fishing ground on the stream just below the falls, at the far end of the walk
Soft-serve counter at the visitor centrewasabi soft-serve at the top of the climb, grated root added at the counter

How to actually get there

Mishima → Shuzenji Station (Izuhakone Railway Sunzu Line).
Shuzenji Station → Joren-no-taki (Tokai Bus for Kawazu Station or Showa-no-Mori, ~35 min).
Viewing deck first, then the stone stairway down to the pool.
Follow the stream past the wasabi beds, then climb back up for the soft-serve.

Izuhakone Railway to Shuzenji, then Tokai Bus: Mishima on the Tokaido Shinkansen, then the Izuhakone Railway Sunzu Line to Shuzenji Station. From the bus stands outside the station take the Tokai Bus bound for Kawazu Station or Showa-no-Mori and ride about thirty-five minutes up the Amagi road to Joren-no-taki.
Back down to Shuzenji from the same road: Buses to Shuzenji stop across Route 414 from the arrival side. This is a mountain route with a thin service and an early last useful departure, so photograph the timetable at the stop before you go down to the river. The climb back out of the gorge takes longer than the descent, so start up sooner than feels necessary.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Shizuoka accounts for about seventy per cent of Japan's wasabi by value, and the growing is done in water rather than soil. Spring water is run through beds of stacked stone, coarse at the bottom and fine on top, which filter it and hold it near the temperature the plant will accept. At Joren Falls, on a headwater of the Kano river, those beds line the stream below a fall 25 metres high and 7 metres wide that drops over the end of a basalt lava flow. The beds are farms and closed to visitors, but the path to the falls runs along them.

How to enjoy it

The falls do not close: the car park, the path and the toilets stay open, and only the shops keep hours. Come in rain if the choice is rain or nothing — the fall runs harder and the beds are running water in any weather. Allow more time for the climb out than for the way down, and take the soft-serve at the top rather than the bottom, which is where the local order puts it.

Background & history

Cultivation began about four hundred years ago at Utogi, in the mountains behind what is now Shizuoka city, and the plant was for a time kept from leaving the valley. The method later travelled to Izu, and in the 1890s masons here worked out the stacked-stone bed that made yields reliable and spread from Izu across the country. The FAO recognised the system as globally important agricultural heritage in 2018. The fall itself is far older than the farming: the cliff is the edge of a lava flow from an eruption of Hachikubo-yama.

Before you go

Cash: The falls, the car park and the toilets cost nothing. Everything else on the site is a counter: wasabi soft-serve, grated wasabi sold beside it, the trout ponds downstream. Carry cash for the bus and for the counters.
Good to know: The way down is a stone stairway into a wet gorge, slippery after rain, and there is no route back that avoids the climb. The wasabi beds along the stream are private ground and fenced — look from the path, do not step in. The shops and restaurant close on Tuesdays, or the Wednesday when Tuesday is a public holiday.
Another way: From the south the same bus route reaches the stop from Kawazu on the Izukyu line, over the Amagi pass. By car the site is on Route 414 with a large free car park at the entrance, and weekends back the road up.
After you get off: The stop is on Route 414 above the site. Cross to the entrance side and walk down past the shops for a few minutes to reach the viewing deck; the stairway to the river starts beyond it.