Shōmyō Falls, Natural monument waterfall in Ashikuraji, Japan.
Shōmyō Falls is a waterfall in Ashikuraji in Toyama Prefecture that drops across multiple cascade stages down a steep mountain slope. The water plunges over a high rock wall before flowing through narrow gorges in lower sections and eventually joining a mountain stream.
The falls once lay about 15 km downstream near the Komi district, roughly 100,000 years ago, and retreated to this spot by eroding welded tuff bedrock at about 10 cm a year. In 1945 Japan Electric Transmission began cutting the north cliff for a hydroelectric intake; the war ended, Hokuriku Electric Power stopped the work, and the horizontal bore from the third basin remains. The site is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument.
The name is said to come from the priest Hōnen, who heard the roar of the falls as the voice of the nenbutsu, the chant "Namu Amida Butsu". The falls are counted among Japan's 100 Soundscapes, and the water is heard from the trail below.
A bus runs from Tateyama Station to a parking area from which a marked hiking trail leads to the waterfall. The trail takes about half an hour and is easy to walk when the weather is dry.
Melting snow creates the nearby Hannoki Falls in spring, which flows for only a few weeks each year. Both waterfalls then drop down the rock face in parallel and form a rare natural spectacle.
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