As you would expect from the largest karst plateau in Japan, Akiyoshidai has some big limestone caves. Three of them are well known and open to visitors, and I went to see the biggest one, Akiyoshido Cave.
Near the elevator entrance partway through
It blows you away from the very first sight. I had no idea a cave could be this huge… It looks like a scene straight out of an Indiana Jones movie.
The Golden Pillar (Ogonchu)
Stalactites
Apparently stalactites grow just 0.2 mm a year. How many tens of thousands of years must it have taken to get this big…
The way down
It’s enormous. And for all that space, it’s nicely laid out without feeling cluttered. The inside of the cave stays at 17°C all year round, so it’s cool in summer and there were loads of visitors, but it hardly felt crowded at all.
A stream running through the cave
Plate-shaped rocks (Hyakumaizara)
Hyakumaizara
The path to the entrance…
It really is like a scene from a movie.
The mouth of the cave
The entrance seen from outside
The scenery outside is outstanding too.
The water is really clear. There are fish swimming around too.
There were dozens, even hundreds, of strangely shaped rocks, but it was so dark inside the cave that hardly any of my shots came out well. I really wished I had another stop or two of light, but Pentax still hasn’t released a successor I like, so I’m thinking of holding out a bit longer. Anyway, it was the place that left the strongest impression on this trip. It’s somewhere I’d love to go back to again and again.