神庭の鬼の穴

Kanba-no Oni no ana - Kanba-no Oni-no Grotto - Demon's Cave


Useful Information

Location: At the Kanba waterfall.
(35.116132, 133.679262)
Open: All year daily 8:30-17:15.
Closed during New Year’s holiday.
[2020]
Fee: Adults JPY 300, Children (12-14) JPY 150, Children (6-11) JPY 150.
Groups (20+): 20% discount.
[2020]
Classification: SpeleologyKarst Cave
Light: LightIncandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours: self guided, D=15 min. V=110,000/a [2020]
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address: Kanba Waterfall Nature Park Management Office, 640 Kanba, Maniwa-shi, Okayama 717-0004, Tel: +81-867-44-2701.
Maniwa City Hall, Tel: +81-867-44-2607, Tel: +81-867-44-4569. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History


Description

神庭の鬼の穴 (Kanba Oni no ana, Demon's Hole) is located at the quite popular Kanba Waterfall. The name can be translated The Devil's Hole in the Divine Garden. It is a small cave with trails and electric light but no guided tours. Visitors to the waterfall can see the cave on their own. There is no additional entrance fee, but at the exit there is a bowl for donations. At the foot of the waterfall a trail branches off which takes you to the cave. It is about 10 minutes walk through the impressive forest.

Kanba-no-Taki (Kanba Waterfall) is on the top 100 list of Japanese waterfalls. This country is quite full of waterfalls, so this more than 100 m high and 20 m wide waterfall applies only for the "not bad" list. Most webpages seem to lack the insight that this is probably the best waterfall in Japan, because there is a cave included. And it has 200 wild monkey, and we are not sure if this is good or bad. Generally it is considered lucky if you see them as they are here only two or three days per month.

There is another cave which is easily visited. Its name is Himesaka Kanachi Ana Cave, and is located 100 m below the waterfall. The cave entrance is huge, 15 m high and 7 m wide, followed by a huge passage. There is no trail but the floor is level. This cave is 1,200 m long and has a huge underground lake named Kami no ike (Lake of God) after 600 m which is 32 m deep. The twilight zone of the cave is quite impressive and worth a visit, but we recommend not to enter the dark part of the cave behind. It is not only forbidden, it is also quite dangerous.