Nunobiki Falls is the collective name for four cascades on the Nunobiki mountain stream in Kobe's Chuo ward — a stream honored in Japan's official 100 Exquisite Waters. Counted among Japan's Three Great Divine Falls, and sometimes ranked with the country's three most celebrated waterfalls outright, this has been a famous scenic site since antiquity. The falls once marked the ascetic training grounds of Takisho-ji temple, founded by the mountain mystic-priest En no Gyoja, a world apart from the city below. The main fall, Ontaki, drops 43 meters — remarkable for a cascade this close to the center of a major city.
Visiting Nunobiki Falls (Kobe)
A maintained walking path runs along the Nunobiki stream from near the railway station, passing the falls and continuing up toward the Nunobiki Herb Garden on the slopes of Mount Nunobiki — one of the rare Top-100 falls you can reach on foot from an urban train stop.
