Chiiwa Gorge (乳岩峡) is a valley and a most visited tourist spot in the Aichi region, it is a large white limestone cliff with a height of 670 meters, located on the Chiiwa River of Shinshiro City, Aichi Prefecture.
The cliff has a nice half-mile long trail of weird rocks that was designated a natural monument in 1934, with a sparkling emerald-green clear stream and amazing caves.
A mountain stream with very clean water, passing through a tunnel of huge rocks, with large and small caves, and a natural stone gate called Tsutenmon Arch.
The beginning of the adventure starts in the free parking, as part of the track was closed you will walk a total of 3 km to the Chiiwa cave, the way from the parking lot to the beginning of the mountain trail you will walk about 1.7 km on the paved street.
At the beginning of the trail there is a public toilet and then the stream, from there we will walk another 1.3 km along the forest trail along the Chiiwa River and over the rocks to reach the Chiiwa Cave.
In this stretch there are several stairs, they are hanging iron stairs sewn into huge cracks in the rocks and it goes up until you reach the top, the first stairs have an inclination of about 45 degrees and a little steep, the following stairs become more and more steep, and at the end the slope reaches 70 degrees or more.
Looking down, you see a big hole in the middle of the rocks, called Tsuten dong. An impressive site that is well worth a visit.
In fact, Chiiwa is a completely rocky mountain and cannot be climbed, so the purpose of the tour is Tsutenmon Arch and Chiiwa Cave. The Arch is just after the last stairs, passing the Arch begins a small descent where we will find another small climb on the right with stairs that leads to the Chiiwa Cave, in the cave several stone Buddhas were consecrated.
CHIIWA CAVE
Free entrance
Free parking about 550 meters from the entrance
Aichi Shinshiro Kawai Chichiiwa