The 20-meter-high Uramitaki Falls are known for the haiku master Matsuo Basho, who visited Nikko in 1689 on his journey along the Okunohosomichi trail and saw the falls and composed the haiku “Tadatari wa taki ni kokomoriya natsu no hajimae” (“It’s the beginning of summer when I stay in the falls for a while”).
This waterfall is located upstream of the Arasawa River, a tributary of the Oya River. Although it is not currently open to visitors, Fudo Myoo is enshrined behind the waterfall.
Nikko is home to many famous waterfalls in Japan, among which Kegon-no-taki Falls, Kirifuri Falls, and Urami-no-Taki Falls are known as the “Three Famous Waterfalls of Nikko.
Why not enjoy a relaxing tour of the three famous waterfalls in Nikko, away from the noise of daily life? These waterfalls are especially recommended for nature lovers and those seeking healing.
Uramidaki Falls is sometimes also written as “Urami-no-Taki Falls. This waterfall is located in the Anrasawa National Forest and flows into the Arasawa River, a tributary of the Oya River. Its height is 19 meters. In the past, the falls could be viewed from the back side, hence the name. Together with Kegon Falls and Kirifuri Falls, it is one of the “Three Famous Waterfalls of Nikko. The “Three Great Waterfalls of Oku-Nikko” refer to Kegon Falls, Ryuzu Falls, and Yudaki Falls.
The upper half of the cliff is composed of sheet-like pyroxene andesite (Quaternary) and the lower half of rhyolite (Tertiary), with a reddish-brown agglomerate about 2 meters thick in between. Although smaller in scale than the other two of Nikko’s three famous waterfalls, a rare feature of the waterfall is that a path has been built through the eroded rock mass in the center of the waterfall, allowing visitors to view the waterfall from the back.
On the back side of the waterfall, there is still a statue of Fudo Myoo, who is said to have been welcomed from the three mountains of Dewa in 1624. Matsuo Basho also visited this Uramidaki Waterfall in 1689 and left descriptions and haiku about it in his “Oku no Hosomichi” (The Narrow Road to the Interior) In 1902, the rocks above the waterfall collapsed, and since then it has been difficult to view the waterfall from the back side. A monument to Basho’s haiku has been erected near the Arasawa Bridge on Route 120.
Matsuo Basho
“For a while I will stay in the waterfall, the first of summer.
(“For a while, stay in the waterfall, or the first of summer”)
If you stay for a while in the cave behind the waterfall, which was also a training place for monks, it is just like a monk’s training, the beginning of summer.
Summer retreat (90 days of monks’ ascetic practice in one place)
From JR Nikko Station or Tobu Nikko Station, take the Tobu Bus bound for “Yumoto Onsen” or “Chuzenji Onsen” in Nikko. 15 minutes, get off at “Urami no Taki” bus stop, 45 minutes walk.