The streets towards Akiyoshidai from Ruriko-ji become narrower and narrower with lots of hairpin turns forcing us to drive slower and slower. After a few missed turns we arrive at a large parking area for what we are hoping is the entrance to the cave Akiyoshi-do. The map next to the parking lot agrees so we walk to the arcade that leads to the entrance to the cave.
There aren’t a lot of people this late in the day but we still have two hours to explore the cave which we hope is enough. Akiyoshi-do is the largest cave in Japan and one of the largest in Asia and about 1 km of it can be explored freely which we intend to do.
After paying for the entrance fee the walk to the cave entrance is level and through a forest with flowers and following a river that flows next to the trail. It is quite beautiful already and we are looking forward to entering the cave.
Soon we arrive at the entrance which is impressive as the footpath crosses a bridge over the river and suddenly becomes a suspended walkway anchored in the stone as it enters the cave above the raging river. There is even a small waterfall at the entrance that roars and makes any conversation impossible.
After getting inside the cave opens up and through the mist from the waterfall we can see how large the cave entrance hall actually is…quite large:). The trail continues near the river which is flowing in full force next to the walkway.
This is a rare occurence for us as most of the caves we have visited are dry caves but this one is wet with a vengeance and we have to be careful how we step as the walkway is wet and slippery. But we manage not to fall down and we are quite proud about this.
Along the trail there are information stations which speak in Japanese or English quite tunderously but with the relatively few people in the cave we don’t feel bad in listening to the lengthy descriptions of the karstic features in English.
The most well known (and impressive) formation is the 100 plates formation which seems to have more than 100 ‘plates’ to us. With the water sounds from the river and with the twilightish lightning it looks as something otherworldly.
Of course it is not the only impressive formations there are a lot more named formations including the Mt Fuji formation (looking like Mt Fuji of course).
There is something interesting everywhere we look so we advance slowly through the cave. Named and unnamed formations are everywhere and we really enjoy exploring this beautiful and long cave.
After some walking we arrive at the second exit which is an elevator however according to the nearby map the trail continues past it for about 400m to a third exit so we go that way until we arrive at the exit where we have to turn back as our car is of course still where we entered.
On our return trip we stop to take in a few formations that we skipped including an interesting dragon shaped stalactite. There are surprisingly many interesting formations and we can take our time now as we know how long it took us to get here so we know how long the return trip will take.
Right now we are the only people in the cave and it is both eerie and fascinating to have the full cave to us to explore. We especially like the large room which seems like something from a movie with the river next to us.
We arrive at the exit prior to the closing of the cave but only by 20 minutes. Still we have a few minutes to enjoy the exit of the river near the cave – it is as impressive to us as it was we entered the cave with the nice waterfall and the sounds of the river flowing near us. And then we have one more stop planned relatively nearby to explore the karstic plateau up top.
