Sounkyo Onsen

What to know

Sounkyo (層雲峡, Sōunkyō) is a touristy hot spring resort town in the north of Daisetsuzan National Park. It lies in a scenic, narrow gorge flanked by 100-meter-high, forested cliffs. The town offers a pleasant village center, onsen baths, and two beautiful waterfalls nearby. It also serves as a good base for hiking tours into the national park, with ropeway access to nearby Mount Kurodake.

Sounkyo has several hot spring baths, including a public bathhouse called Kurodake no Yu in the town center. This bathhouse has gender-segregated indoor and outdoor baths with limited views of the surrounding landscape. More hot spring bathing is available at the town's many ryokan, several of which open their baths to non-staying guests during the day for an admission fee of typically around 1000 yen.

About three kilometers east of the village center, further up the valley, are two beautiful waterfalls: Ginga no Taki (Milky Way Falls) and Ryusei no Taki (Shooting Star Falls), which cascade down the 100-meter-high cliffside. Both waterfalls can be viewed from a large parking lot across the river or from a small observation deck reached via a steep walking trail in about 15–20 minutes from the parking lot outside of winter.

Another five kilometers up the valley along the main road is Obako, a beautiful rock formation along the river said to resemble folding screens. An attractive cycling road used to connect the two waterfalls with Obako; however, it had to be closed due to its worsening condition and is unlikely to reopen. Because public transportation along the valley is limited, a taxi or rental car is most convenient for accessing the waterfalls and Obako.

Sounkyo is also a popular autumn leaf viewing spot and one of the first places in Japan to see the seasonal spectacle. The colors typically start to appear around the summit of Mount Kurodake in mid-September and then gradually move down the mountain slopes until they reach the valley floor around mid-October.

The Kurodake Ropeway provides visitors easy access to the higher parts of Daisetsuzan National Park. It departs from next to the Sounkyo Visitor Center at the back of the village center. At the top of the ropeway is a chair lift, which brings you to within a one-hour hike of the summit of Mount Kurodake. The classic 1–2 day tour for advanced hikers continues from the summit of Kurodake through the wild interior of the national park to the summit of Asahidake, from where one can descend to Asahidake Onsen.