Garō Falls, Natural waterfall in Shimamaki, Japan.

Garō Falls is a waterfall on the upper Chihase River in Shimamaki, Hokkaido, with a drop of 70 m and a width of about 20 m. Also called Ryūjin Falls or Hiryū Falls, it lies in the Kariba-Motta Prefectural Natural Park. A roughly 700 m path, the Takimi road, leads from the log-house plaza to the falls.

Gold was found at Shimamaki in 1631 (Kan'ei 8), and a Matsumae retainer named Kotarō, later a gold-mine magistrate, planned to hide the gold from the Edo shogunate. He chose Garō Falls, where he had once healed a wounded fawn; at the falls a deer appeared and pointed to the plunge pool, and a dragon deity was said to guard the gold, bringing misfortune on anyone who dug it out. In 1991 the falls were named to Japan's Top 100 Waterfalls.

The falls are also called Ryūjin no Taki (Dragon God Falls) and Hiryū no Taki (Flying Dragon Falls). A legend tells that in 1631 gold was found at Shimamaki, and a Matsumae retainer planned to hide it at the falls; a deer appeared and pointed to the plunge pool, and the dragon god was said to guard the gold, bringing misfortune on anyone who dug it out.

A logging-road path of about 700 m runs from the log-house square to the falls, so the approach is on foot. The falls lie in the Kariba-Motta Prefectural Natural Park; access by car is via National Route 229 to the Garō Plateau campsite, then 20 minutes on foot. From Kuromatsunai or Oshamambe stations it takes about two hours by bus or taxi plus 20 minutes walking.

Above the falls, natural carbonated water rich in iron seeps from a rock crevice and is known as Dragon Water, or the Dragon God's sacred water. It is easiest to collect when the river runs low, from mid-July to late October, and is drinkable.