Shasui Falls has been a place of practice for close to a millennium. The falls descend in three tiers totaling 90 meters — 69, 16, and 29 meters — on the Takizawa River in the Sakawa River system at Yamakita, Kanagawa Prefecture, within the precincts of the Buddhist temple Saishō-ji. Yamabushi and Buddhist clergy have long used the falls for takigyō purification, standing beneath the water as it strikes the head and shoulders; the name itself, "shasui," is an esoteric Buddhist term for water that purifies the body. Known since at least the late Heian period, the falls are linked to the monk Mongaku, said to have spent one hundred days here in meditation and austerities in the early Kamakura period; Saishō-ji keeps an image of Fudō Myōō, the "Waterfall Fudō," attributed to him.
Visiting Shasui Falls
The falls stand in the grounds of Saishō-ji temple at Yamakita, Ashigarakami District, Kanagawa Prefecture. In 1985 the falls and the Takizawa River were jointly selected among Japan's 100 Famous Waters, and the site also appears in the 1979 "50 Scenic Spots of Kanagawa" listing — an indication of its standing as a visitable landmark in the prefecture.
