Kegon Falls plunges roughly 97 meters where the Ōjiri River exits Lake Chūzenji, in the mountains above Nikkō. The falls were born of violence: lava flows rerouted the Daiya River, and today about twelve smaller falls seep through cracks between the mountain and the hardened lava, framing the main cataract. Its discovery is attributed to the monk Shōdō Shōnin, and the name honors the Kegon Sutra; neighboring falls in the gorge — Agon, Hōdō, Hannya, and Nehan — are thought to have been named in the same spirit, after the traditional five-period classification of the Buddha's teachings. Counted among Japan's three famous waterfalls with Fukuroda and Nachi, Kegon was also chosen in 1927 as one of the Eight Views representing Japan in the Shōwa era.
Visiting Kegon Falls
The falls lie in Nikkō National Park near the city of Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture. In autumn, traffic on the road from Nikkō up to Chūzenji can slow to a crawl as visitors arrive for the foliage. Under normal water flow, the fall pours over the cliff in a curtain about 7 meters wide.
