Hagoromo Waterfall (Hagoromo-no-taki [羽衣の滝])

Daisetsuzan National Park, Hokkaido, Japan

About Hagoromo Waterfall (Hagoromo-no-taki [羽衣の滝])


Hiking Distance: 1-2km round trip
Suggested Time: 45 minutes

Date first visited: 2009-06-06
Date last visited: 2009-06-06

Waterfall Latitude: 43.6262
Waterfall Longitude: 142.78695

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

The Hagoromo Waterfall (Hagoromo-no-taki [羽衣の滝]; Hagoromo Falls or “Angel’s Robe Falls”) sat on the western side of Daisetsuzan National Park in the Tenninkyo Gorge.

This one was said to drop some 270m in multiple steps comprised of sheets of water giving it the appearance of an angel’s robe as the kanji translation seemed to suggest.

Daisetsuzan_107_06052009 - The Hagoromo Waterfall
The Hagoromo Waterfall

Aside from the multitude of man-modified waterfalls scattered around this falls, there was also another natural one nearby called the Shikishima Waterfall.

Unfortunately, bear activity closed the trail to that one, and with strong discouragement from Julie, we opted not to hop the barricade and proceed further thereby preventing us from seeing it.

Experiencing the Hagoromo Waterfall

From the onsen complex by Tenninkyo, we followed a very well-developed 600m path alongside a river with a few man-modified waterfalls on it.

We then made it to a bridge spanning a tributary stream just downstream from the Hagoromo-no-taki.

Daisetsuzan_089_06052009 - Context of the trail following along the river as we pursued the Hagoromo Waterfall
Context of the trail following along the river as we pursued the Hagoromo Waterfall

We noticed some signage and a few picnic tables in the area, which suggested to us that it would’ve been a pretty nice place for a picnic.

However, we weren’t satisfied with this view so we took a spur trail that left the main trail before the bridge, followed alongside a smaller tributary, and then climbed up some stairs.

Once we got to the top of the stairs, we found ourselves at a viewing platform at the spur trail’s end giving us a more direct view of the Hagoromo Waterfall.

It took us about 45 minutes round trip to do this excursion, which was pleasantly quiet and naturesque.

Daisetsuzan_136_06052009 - Barricade discouraging further progress to the Shikishima Waterfall right after the turnoff for the spur trail to the Hagoromo Waterfall
Barricade discouraging further progress to the Shikishima Waterfall right after the turnoff for the spur trail to the Hagoromo Waterfall

The walk was mostly flat alongside the river with the lone exception being the stairs to the upper overlook.

Shortly after the main trail continued beyond the bridge spanning the Hagoromo Falls’ tributary stream, we were then stopped by a signed barricade indicating the trail was closed due to bear activity.

Even though the Shikishima Waterfall was barely 300m from where we were at, we opted not to chance it (though part of me still regrets not doing this).

Authorities

The Hagoromo Waterfall resides near Asahikawa in the Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. It is administered by the Daisetsuzan National Park. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Ministry of the Environment website.

Daisetsuzan_087_06052009 - Only 500m to the Hagoromo Waterfall. Notice the second character also meant clothes in Chinese, which was why we were able to guess the meaning of this sign
Daisetsuzan_088_06052009 - The forested and flat trail leading to the Hagoromo (Angel's Robe) Waterfall
Daisetsuzan_092_06052009 - Man-modified waterfall in the main river seen along the flat trail alongside the river itself
Daisetsuzan_096_06052009 - View of the Hagoromo Waterfall from the bridge before deciding to go up the spur trail to a higher lookout
Daisetsuzan_099_06052009 - Picnic tables just on the other side of the bridge with still a view of part of the Hagoromo-no-taki
Daisetsuzan_105_06052009 - Looking upstream from the bridge towards the Hagoromo Waterfall
Daisetsuzan_125_06052009 - View of the Hagoromo Waterfall from the end of the spur trail to its lookout
Daisetsuzan_130_06052009 - Context of Julie checking out the Hagoromo-no-taki from the sanctioned lookout at the end of the spur trail
Daisetsuzan_133_06052009 - Back on the main trail (after having had our fill of the Hagoromo Waterfall), Julie continued towards the Shikishima Waterfall (until a sign and barricade stopped us)
Daisetsuzan_137_06052009 - Closeup of the bear sign near the barricade - the very reason why it was closed and we couldn't visit the Shikishima Waterfall
Daisetsuzan_146_06052009 - As we were walking along the Tenninkyo Gorge, we noticed these interesting basalt columns high up on the cliffs
Daisetsuzan_143_06052009 - Another examination of the basalt columns opposite the walkway leading to the Hagoromo Waterfall
Daisetsuzan_163_06052009 - As we were driving back towards Asahikawa, we got this nice view over a lake


It’s about a 30- to 45-minute drive from Asahikawa to the car park at the onsen complex by Tenninkyo.

I believe we took the 1160 then the 213 to go the roughly 42km to get here.

Daisetsuzan_083_06052009 - This was the onsen area of the Tenninkyo Gorge near the Hagoromo Waterfall
This was the onsen area of the Tenninkyo Gorge near the Hagoromo Waterfall

For geographical context, Asahikawa was 137km (2 hours by car or 2 hours by train) northeast of Sapporo. Sapporo was about 9.5 hours by train or 90 minutes by flight from Tokyo. It was also possible to fly to Sapporo from Osaka (under 2 hours) or Kobe (2 hours; this was how we did it on our trip).

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Bottom up sweep of the falls from the bridge


The view of the falls from the viewing platform

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Tagged with: tenninkyo, asahikawa, asahi, angels robe, bears, hokkaido, daisetsuzan, national park, shikishima, japan, waterfall



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Shikishima Waterfall (Shikishima-no-taki) October 1, 2009 2:18 pm by Dean Goss - You saw MUCH more water here than I did. Hagoromo is easily the Japanese waterfall I was most curious about prior to my visit to Japan. For what it's worth, I also found the trail to Shikishima-no-taki closed, but Yusemi, the wonderful man who showed us around merely shrugged and motioned us to come along.… ...Read More

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