Abe Great Falls answers to three names. Formally Abe-no-Otaki, it is also called the Suruga Great Falls, after the old province, and Otome Falls, "the maiden's fall." The 80-meter cataract hangs in the upper reaches of the Abe River in northern Aoi Ward, Shizuoka City, near the Umegashima hot-spring resort area. It was listed among Japan's Top 100 Waterfalls in the Ministry of the Environment's 1990 selection, and Japanese sources note that it is sometimes counted among the Three Great Falls of Japan — an informal but telling measure of its standing. For a waterfall of that reputation it keeps a remote address, deep in the mountain headwaters above Shizuoka's coastal plain.
Visiting Abe Great Falls
The fall lies in the upper Abe River, in northern Aoi-ku, Shizuoka City, near the Umegashima onsen resort area — the closest named settlement in the sources.
