Osaka Falls

Landscape of 216 waterfalls, all over five meters tall, spread across a forest growing on cooled lava from Mt. Ontake. Two eruptions of the volcano, around 54,000 years ago and more recently, sent lava flows reaching Gero, which hardened into long basalt columns now visible along the trails. The Mitsudaki Falls Trail, completable in about three hours from the Himeshaga no Yu bathhouse, passes three major falls and a large boulder called Gandate formed from lava 54,000 years ago. Near the trailhead, naturally carbonated spring water rich in iron is available to taste, a byproduct of the same volcanic geology that shaped the entire area.