Uriwari Falls

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Recherche et rédaction Hinato

Uriwari Fallsfamous waterWakasaspring waterTentokuji

Photo: Motokoka / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · original

The name means the melon splitter, from a story that the water was so cold that a melon left in it cracked. It comes out of the rock behind Tentokuji temple in Wakasa at a steady eleven or twelve degrees year-round, in enough volume to form a small fall, and it was selected as one of Japan's hundred famous waters in 1985.

What you find is a short wooded walk from a car park to a mossy rock face with water pouring out of it, and — more to the point locally — a row of taps where people fill containers. This is drinking water that people drive for. The surrounding area has been laid out as a park with a shop, and containers and a fee sticker are sold there for taking quantities home. It is free to visit and free to drink on the spot.

Informations essentielles

Horaires d'ouverture

Open access during daylight hours

Fermé: Open year-round

Tarif d'entrée

Free to visit and to drink on site | Sticker for taking larger quantities home around ¥300

Meilleure saison

Year-round | Summer for the cold air around the falls

Durée de visite

30–45 minutes

Comment s'y rendre

Informations d'accès

Tentokuji, Wakasa, Mikatakaminaka District. By car from Tsuruga IC on Route 27 toward Obama, or from Obama-Nishi IC toward Tsuruga. By public transport, take the JR Obama Line to Kaminaka Station then the Wakae line bus toward Obama to the Tentokuji stop and walk about 5 minutes. Free to visit, with a car park and water-drawing taps; a sticker for taking larger quantities home is sold nearby for around ¥300.

Guide d'initié

**Bring a bottle.** The taps at the car park are the practical point of the place for most visitors, and drinking on the spot is free. For larger volumes a sticker is sold at the shop. **Eleven or twelve degrees, all year.** That is genuinely cold to the hand in August and it does not vary with the season, which is why the melon story exists. **It is a short walk.** Car park to the falls is a few minutes on a made path through moss and cedar. This is a stop, not an excursion. **Combine with Kumagawa-juku.** The post town on the mackerel road is about twenty minutes away in the same municipality and the two make an easy half-day. **Do not treat the water as ornamental.** People are here to collect drinking water. Keep the taps clear and do not wash anything in the pool.

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