About Jofu Waterfall (Jofu-no-taki [常布の滝])
The Jofu Waterfall (Jofu-no-taki [常布の滝]; or Jofu Falls as well as Jofou Falls) was a rare waterfall where we managed to experience it surrounded by the peak of the koyo (or Autumn-colored foliage).
It was a 40m tall waterfall on the Osawa River or Osawagawa nestled in a very rugged ravine.
Given its close proximity to the resort town of Kusatsu Onsen (or Kusatsu Hot Springs), we were pretty surprised that this waterfall wasn’t more well-signed nor as popular as we would have expected.
It was even considered to be one of Japan’s Top 100 Waterfalls according to the Japanese Ministry of the Environment.
As a result of how much difficulty we had trying to reach this waterfall, perhaps that koyo was the silver lining to our experiences.
But it turned out that the root cause of our difficulties with this falls resulted from landslides that damaged and ultimately closed off key parts of the access trail.
So we were only able to get the view you see pictured above, but we were never able to get all the way to its base for a more intimate experience.
There was also another trail closure that resulted in us taking a detour that caused some of the directions and trail descriptions in the literature to be obsolete.
Experiencing the Jofu Waterfall
In order to even get a decent view of the Jofu Waterfall, we hiked for nearly two hours on a 3.6km round-trip trail to only the lookout.
The hiking times and distances would have been longer had we been able to reach the bottom of the gorge right in front of the falls.
So starting from an alternate trailhead due to the primary path being closed (see directions below), we went up some steps then onto a forested trail.
The path crossed some ditches that appeared to drain into an adjacent golf course.
During our hike, the koyo didn’t quite reach the lower parts of this trail, but it was definitely in peak colors when we climbed higher towards a two-sided narrow ridge.
From the right side of the ridge, we started to get our first partial glimpses of the Jofu Falls surrounded by gorgeous Autumn colors.
On the left side of the ridge was the Tanizawa River or Tanizawagawa, which was another river system cutting a rugged gorge.
This river system actually passed beneath a road bridge near the alternate trailhead where we started this hike.
It turned out that the original trail that we almost initially took would have crossed this river.
Beyond this narrowing of the ridge about 1.6km from the alternate trailhead was a trail junction where the original trail merged with this trail.
During our visit, a local warned us about how this original trail was damaged (this was the trail described in the literature).
After this junction, the trail was flanked by somewhat tall sloping concrete walls while the surface of the trail had exhibited some water damage causing little gullies cutting right through the middle.
Anyways, about 200m beyond the trail junction was another trail junction.
Continuing straight at this junction for 100m led directly to the Jofu Waterfall overlook, which was where we took photo at the top of this page.
For all intents and purposes, this was ultimately our turnaround point of the hike.
The trail on the left led another 300m to another trail junction.
The path descending on the right would have gone into and alongside the steep ravine of the Osawagawa.
Unfortunately, this trail was closed so we couldn’t describe what we would have seen on this last stretch of trail.
Authorities
The Jofu Waterfall resides near Kusatsu Onsen of the Gunma Prefecture, Japan. It is administered by the Gunma Prefectural Government. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Gunma Tourism website.
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