tohokuaomori
Oirase and Towada
The Oirase Gorge is a forested river valley in Aomori Prefecture, in the Tohoku region of northern Honshu, where the Oirase Stream runs fourteen kilometres out of Lake Towada, a caldera lake of deep blue water in the Towada-Hachimantai National Park.
The Oirase Stream
- Prefecture
- Aomori
- Region
- Tohoku
- Journeys
- One of our journeys
overview
A clear stream under beech and maple, falling from a lake in an old volcano.
Lake Towada fills the caldera of a volcano that last erupted more than a thousand years ago, and it is deep: 327 metres at its deepest point, the third deepest lake in Japan. Its only outflow is the Oirase Stream, which leaves the lake at Nenokuchi and runs east through a narrow gorge of beech, katsura and Japanese maple to Yakeyama. Along those fourteen kilometres the water is never still for long, breaking over mossy boulders, sliding through rapids and dropping over more than a dozen named waterfalls.
The road runs beside the stream for most of its length, and a level path follows the water on both banks, so the gorge can be taken in short walks between waiting cars, a stretch at a time. It is a place for looking closely. The gorge is known for its mosses and ferns, the water is clear enough to count the stones on the bed, and the light under the canopy changes with every bend.
Above the gorge rise the Hakkoda mountains, a range of volcanic peaks whose slopes shelter onsen where wooden inns have taken in travellers for generations. The country is remote, three hours by Shinkansen from Tokyo and a drive into the forest beyond, and that distance is a large part of its appeal: beech woods, onsen water, quiet, and very little else.
Our tours stay overnightOur tours visit for the dayOn a Custom Tour of Japan
see and do
What to see at Oirase and Towada
Choshi Otaki
The only waterfall on the main course of the stream, a broad curtain of water some twenty metres wide below the lake. Fish cannot climb it, which is why Lake Towada had none until kokanee were introduced at the start of the twentieth century.
The Ashura Current
The best-known stretch of the gorge, where the stream races white between moss-covered rocks under an arch of beech and maple, a few minutes' walk from the road.
Kumoi no Taki
A waterfall of about twenty metres that drops in steps down the side of the gorge into a pool beside the path, among the easiest of the falls to reach.
Ishigedo
A great slab of rock leaning against the hillside, supported, it seems, by a katsura tree growing beneath it. Its name means a shelter of stone.
Nenokuchi
The head of the gorge, where the stream leaves Lake Towada, and the pier from which boats cross the lake to Yasumiya in about fifty minutes.
Lake Towada and the Otome no Zo
The lake fills a double caldera on the border of Aomori and Akita, its shore broken by two long peninsulas. At Yasumiya stand two bronze women facing one another, the Otome no Zo, the last major work of the sculptor and poet Takamura Kotaro, unveiled in 1953.
Towada Shrine
A shrine in the cedar woods of the Nakayama peninsula, a short walk from Yasumiya, long a place of pilgrimage for the mountain ascetics of the north.
The Tsuta ponds
In the beech forest between the gorge and the Hakkoda mountains, a chain of seven small ponds linked by a level walk of about an hour. Tsuta-numa, the largest, carries the reflection of the trees on a still day.
The Hakkoda Ropeway
A cable car that rises some 650 metres in about ten minutes to the plateau below the summit of Mount Tamoyachi, where a boardwalk crosses the alpine marsh and the view runs over the Hakkoda range to Mutsu Bay.
Sukayu Onsen
A mountain onsen of milky, strongly acidic water whose great wooden hall, the Sennin-buro, is one of the largest onsen rooms in Japan, beneath a high timber roof.
Towada Art Center
A museum of contemporary art designed by Ryue Nishizawa and opened in 2008 in the town of Towada, its galleries set like white boxes along a tree-lined avenue, with a giant figure by Ron Mueck inside and works by Yayoi Kusama in the park across the road.
experiences
The best of Oirase and Towada
The gorge in short stages
A private car leaves you at one waterfall and waits at the next, so the stream is walked a stretch at a time on the level path, with a guide who knows the names of the falls and the mosses.
An evening in a forest onsen
An onsen inn in the beech woods, where the water rises from the spring through the boards of the pool, followed by dinner of the mountains: wild greens, river fish, and the beef and apples of Aomori.
The lake by boat
A crossing of Lake Towada from Nenokuchi to Yasumiya, the headlands and the deep water seen from the deck of a boat.
The crafts of Tsugaru
A morning with a maker of Tsugaru-nuri lacquer, built up in dozens of coats and polished back to reveal its pattern, or of kogin, a counted stitch of white thread on indigo cloth, both crafts of Aomori.
plan your visit
Oirase and Towada on a journey through Japan
- How long to stay
- Two nights at an onsen inn in the forest, as on The Autumn Leaves Tour of Northern Japan, give the gorge, the lake and the Hakkoda mountains an easy pace, with time left over for the onsen.
- Getting there
- By the Tohoku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Hachinohe in under three hours or to Shin-Aomori in a little over three, then about an hour and a half by private car to the gorge. Aomori Airport is also about ninety minutes away by car.
- Pairs well with
- Oirase sits at the northern end of a classic Tohoku journey: Hirosaki is under two hours to the west, Nyuto Onsen, Lake Tazawa and Kakunodate lie to the south over the Hachimantai plateau, and Hakodate is about an hour from Shin-Aomori by Shinkansen.HirosakiNyuto OnsenKakunodateLake TazawaAomoriHakodate
where to stay
Luxury hotels and ryokan at Oirase and Towada
The places to stay are the onsen inns of the forest and the shore of the lake, not the towns. At Tsuta Onsen, alone in the beech woods above the gorge, stands the wooden inn of the Taisho era where The Autumn Leaves Tour of Northern Japan spends two nights, its principal onsen built directly over its source, so that the water wells up through gaps in the floorboards. The writer Omachi Keigetsu, who did much to make the Towada country known, spent his last years there.
Along the stream and on the lakeshore at Yasumiya there are larger resort hotels, and higher up, in the Hakkoda mountains, the old mountain onsen keep their great wooden halls. For a guest who wants the gorge close at hand and the forest on every side, a night or two in the woods is the right choice.
journeys
Tours of Japan that include Oirase and Towada
Open a journey below for its route, its dates and its price. On dates of your own, a Custom Tour of Japan can bring you here and anywhere else in Japan you would like to go.
questions
Oirase and Towada: questions answered
How long is the Oirase Gorge walk?
The path along the Oirase Stream runs about fourteen kilometres from Nenokuchi to Yakeyama and is almost level. Few people walk it all: the usual way is to take the best-known stretches on foot, between the Ashura Current and Choshi Otaki, with a car waiting at each end.
How do you get to the Oirase Gorge from Tokyo?
By the Tohoku Shinkansen to Hachinohe or Shin-Aomori, about three hours, then by car for about ninety minutes. On our journeys a private car meets you at the station.
Is Lake Towada worth visiting?
Yes. It is one of the deepest lakes in Japan, 327 metres at its deepest, set in a caldera ringed with forest at the head of the Oirase Gorge, and a boat across it with the Otome no Zo at Yasumiya makes a gentle half day.
How many days do you need for Oirase and Lake Towada?
Two nights: a full day for the gorge and the lake, and time for the onsen and the Hakkoda mountains.
What is Tsuta Onsen?
An onsen in the beech forest near the Oirase Gorge, where a wooden inn has its onsen built over its own spring, the water rising through the floor of the pool. A level path from the inn circles seven small ponds in the forest.
Can you see the Oirase Gorge without walking far?
Yes. The road runs beside the stream, so the waterfalls and the Ashura Current are a few minutes' walk from the car, and the level path makes longer stretches easy for anyone who wishes.
Which Luxury Japan Travel journeys include Oirase and Towada?
The Autumn Leaves Tour of Northern Japan spends nights at Oirase and Towada. On dates of your own, a Custom Tour of Japan can include Oirase and Towada too.
Can Oirase and Towada be part of a private tour of Japan?
Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party alone, on your dates, with your own Tour Director, and it can go anywhere in the country, Oirase and Towada included. If you would rather travel independently, the Expert Japan Itinerary plans every day for you.
tohoku
More in Tohoku
Every place in Tohoku
Nearby
Reading on Oirase and Towada
Oirase and Towada, planned for you.
Tell us when you would like to travel and what draws you to Oirase and Towada, and we will answer with the journey that suits you best: one of our published tours, a journey of The Private Collection, or a Custom Tour of Japan created around your party alone.