Iwaidaki Waterfall, Tsuyama

Take a gentle walk to a waterfall in a hot spring area

Chris Cooper Aug 30, 2012 - 1 min read

Often in Japan, you find covered places in nature have some kind of shrine in them, this one has a bag of table salt on it amongst other things

Beams of light shining in through the trickle of water

The red, brown and green of the forest on the way to the waterfall

A well camouflaged toad, perched in a little hole at the side of the path, it was pretty big actually

Foot bath looking out at the river, this is right next to Okutsu Onsen

Girl power! Bijin Water filling station, pay to fill up a water bottle (bring your own I think) then you can bathe in it and achieve super smooth skin! It seemed very cheap to me - 20L was 100 yen or 100L was 300 yen. To avoid transport get in the onsen!

Locally sourced honey shop - they have a factory out the back and a farm in the area, it's on the main road between Tsuyama and the waterfall (179) and it's easy to spot

Anyone for ice cream? Delicious honey soft cream with honey drizzled on top from the Bun Bun Factory

Iwaidaki (岩井滝) is around 40 minutes North of Tsuyama City by car. It's very close to Onbara Ski Resort and is in an area with several hot springs dotted about. I stopped on the way back to dip my feet in a foot spa next to the river at Okutsu Onsen. You can pay to fill up a water bottle with Bijin Water to take away with you. Bijin means beautiful woman and it's said that you get smooth white skin from bathing in the water. After that, I dropped into the Bun Bun Factory for a delicious locally sourced honey ice cream.

Chris Cooper @chris.cooper

I moved to Japan in 2010 to become an English teacher. I came with little knowledge or preconceptions about Japan and thought I would just see what it was like. I found out I love it here, the job, the people, the culture, the life, I want to spread the word about what a great country Japan is to...