There’s great delight in encountering a place for the first time and for over ten years now, Kamogawa has been revealing new treats. This week was a waterfall that took my breath away. Yomogi Fudou Taki is about half an hour from home and it rivals Yoro Keikoku, the famous river valley up in Otaki, Kimitsu.
There’s a pleasant forest walk to the temple, then stairs down to the waterfall. The air was fresh with negative ions. The pool at the fall’s base is deep and has stepped rocks dropping down into it. I stripped off my shoes and rolled up my pants so that I could wade into the water. It was icy cold and glorious!
While I waded, Tod picked up some trash we’d seen, which led to a nice conversation with the Japanese tourists who came down the stairs as I was putting my shoes back on. We left them to enjoy the scene and headed up towards the temple.
We soon came to a fork and went down a different stepped path leading further downstream. We crossed over a vegetal bridge to the edge of the shallow water. A jizo statue watched over the space from a niche in the cliff. Nearby a hand-painted sign promised 延命水 (life-extending water).
But there was a problem. I guessed there would be a basin near the sign, but all I saw was a pile of sticks and mud. So I traversed the cliff and dug with my hands (disturbing many little crabs) until the basin was open again and water flowed out the drain channel. Then I cleared the channel all the way down to the river.
Will my fix last? Probably only until the next big rain and landslide. But I felt alternately triumphant and sacred doing the work. Stewarding the land in little ways feels righteous.
Want to go? Yomogi Fudou Taki 四方木不動滝 is in northeast Kamogawa, a bit farther up from Seichoji temple. There is a parking lot off the main road, (but currently closed for construction, so use the community center lot another 200 meters away) followed by a 1 km walk along a well maintained trail. There are “land leeches” en route, so use caution and maybe some leech spray.
