Autumn Colors at Shosenkyo Gorge

Shosenkyo Gorge is famous for autumn scenery. I went there in November 2018 and I was not disappointed. The trail is much shorter than at Nishizawa Valley and flat, so it is very easy walking, suitable for all ages and states of fitness. It was a beautiful clear sunny day and the scenery was magnificent.

The trail

A paved road of about 6 km runs beside the Arakawa River between Nagatoro Bridge at the lower end and Shosenkyo Village at the upper end. You could easily extend that by visiting Lake Nosen and Arakawa Dam as well. Most of the road is open to one-way car traffic on weekdays, but there was very little traffic the day was there. On weekends between May and November, the road can only be used by walkers and horse-drawn carts!

As we were driving, we started in the middle of the trail, where there is a carpark on the Shosenkyo Green Line Road, but it would’ve been more efficient to start from Nagatoro Bridge at the entrance to the gorge and walk up to the village.

Points of interest

There are several points of interest along the way. There are a number of bridges, including one known as The Bridge of Love. Rakanji Temple is small, but is home to 500 wooden Lu Han statues that are designated important cultural properties. We passed various rocks said to resemble a camel, a tengu and a turtle among other things. The bare, rocky peak of Kakuenpo was an inspiring site. We passed through a rocky gate known as Ishi-mon, and saw a rainbow in the spray of the beautiful 30-meter waterfall named Sengataki.

The village and ropeway

The village is a very interesting place with quite a lot of shops and restaurants and an impressive gemstone museum. There is a shrine with a big stone torii too. Taking the rope-way will give you incredible views of the surrounding scenery, the river gorge, and Mount Fuji.