Kawachi Wind Cave – Cave Exploration in Siga, Japan 🔨
Kawachi Wind Cave in Shiga Prefecture is a hidden and unexplored nursing cave.
It’s about 7 kilometers long and the fourth longest in Japan. It’s designated as a natural monument in Shiga Prefecture.
What kind of cave is it? Let’s go!
What kind of cave?
This cave is the only cave in Shiga Prefecture, officially a limestone cave.
The total length is about 7 km, but people can enter only 200 m from the entrance.
However, inside the cave, there’s a large space like an underground world, and it’s impressive. You’ll feel like an explorer.
How to get to the cave
Kawachi Wind Cave is located in the mountains to the east of Lake Biwa. It takes about 15 minutes by car (Taxi) from the Taga-Taisha Shrine.
If you pay an admission fee (Adult: 500 yen) at the reception, you can’t enter the cave right away. It takes about 5 minutes to walk on the mountain path.
There’re steep stairs on the mountain road, so let’s be careful. Please be careful especially for small children and elderly people. I recommend wearing sneakers.
There’s a river running nearby. It looks like the upper stream of the river on the way by car. It makes your heart calm in a beautiful river.
After walking for a while, a rock appears. It seems like you are climbing a mountain.
Climbing further up the rocky mountain, you will arrive at the entrance.
But you can’t find the entrance where people can enter.
When you looked carefully, there’s a hole that people could barely enter.
It seems that you enter through this small gap.
Surprisingly narrow enough to stir up an adventurous spirit!
The entrance is only 1 m high.
It takes courage to go in, but once you get here, you can’t go back. Let’s bend down and enter without hitting the head.
Also, you need to be careful because water is flowing and it’s slippery.
Go into the small entrance. What’s going to happen from here?
So what’s inside?
When you go through the narrow entrance, you can see a powerful hollow.
It’s the space for 3 basketball courts. It’s like an underground world.
Naturally, there’s no pillar to support it, and it’s kept only by the power of nature.
I didn’t know there had been such a huge space under the mountain for tens of thousands of years.
The ground is still wet and water sometimes drips from the ceiling. You may feel a little cold, but you won’t get soaking wet. Sightseeing platforms, handrails and lighting are also provided.
The first thing you see is a large rolling rock. The breathtaking scenery will appear at the climax of the adventure movie.
If you go through the large space, the cave goes further.
There’s a slightly longer ladder ahead. It’s so steep that you think the inclination is 90 degrees.
The ladder is slippery with water dripping from the ceiling, but you can also see small stalactites on the ladder.
You climb up the ladder and crawl into the lower ceiling…
“DANGEROUS, PLEASE DON’T GO INSIDE.”
Unfortunately, this is the end of the area open to tourists.
The temperature in the cave is constant at 12 to 13 degrees Celsius throughout the year. It’s a cool and comfortable spot in summer, but it feels warm in winter.
Please go to the cave where you can feel like an explorer.
Information
- Hours: 9:00～17:00 (Reception ～16:00) / Summer 9:00～18:00 (Reception ～17:00)
- Closed: When it rains heavily or snows
- Admission: 500 yen for junior high school students and above, 300 yen for 5 years old ～elementary school students
- Website