About Saruo Waterfall (Saruo-daki [猿尾滝])
The Saruo Waterfall (Saruo-daki [猿尾滝]; also called just Saruo Falls or Saruodaki Falls) was one of the easiest waterfalls that we managed to see that was off the beaten path in Japan.
For a waterfall that was included as one of Japan’s Top 100 Waterfalls as blessed by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, that was saying something.
Indeed, we only had to walk about a couple of minutes from the nearest car park (see directions below) to get right up to the base of this two-tiered waterfall.
So even with the rainy weather that we experienced during our visit, its accessibility didn’t stop the pretty consistent traffic of people who’d spend a few minutes here before leaving.
My Dad said that this waterfall’s kanji translated into something like “Monkey Tail Falls”.
I’m presuming that this was because someone had imagined the Saruodaki Waterfall to resemble the tail of a monkey.
However, I found this to be baffling because the monkeys in Japan (typically “snow monkeys” or macaques) didn’t seem to have long tails as what seemed to be suggested here.
Regardless, the Saruo Falls was said to be 60m in cumulative height where the upper tier was 39m and the lower tier was 21m.
There wasn’t a whole lot of variety to the way we experienced the Saruo Waterfall (as you can see from the photos on this page).
I suspect part of the problem was that there was a trail that ascended the slopes to perhaps a more elevated lookout or perhaps to the top of the falls.
However, that trail was closed during our visit.
Another interesting aspect about our visit to this waterfall was that there appeared to be a post box right at the trailhead of the short walk.
Therefore, this had to be one of the more scenic mailboxes in Japan that I’ve seen!
Authorities
The Saruo Waterfall resides near Muraoka of the Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. It is administered by the Hyogo Prefectural Government. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Hyogo District Forest Office website.
We’ll describe the driving directions to the Saruodaki Waterfall from Tottori since that was where we made our drive from.
We’ll just highlight the most direct route (even though we didn’t take it as we wound up taking a more scenic route).
That said, we’ll also provide directions from the Tendaki Waterfall since that was where we continued our drive to reach the Saruo Falls.
Driving from Tottori to Saruo Falls via the most direct route
So the most direct route from Tottori would be to follow the Route 9 east for about 54km before turning left onto the local road leading to the Saruo Falls.
By the way, the Route 178 branched off from the Route 9 about 8km east of the Tottori Sand Dunes or about 11km east of Tottori City.
Route 178 was the scenic coastal road following the Anami Coast, and that was the scenic route that we took.
Anyways, the sign for the Saruo Falls indicating the left turn was easy to miss so I’d recommend that when you’ve crossed over a bridge spanning the Tsukuriyamagawa, then look for the signed turnoff.
The car park was another kilometer beyond the turnoff, and it was on our right.
There was a cafe here as well a restroom facility as well as a sign board.
Overall, this drive was said to take over an hour.
Driving from Tendaki to Saruodaki
Coming from the Tendaki Waterfall, we took the local road down to the Route 482 then turned left and followed this road for about 13km to its junction with the Route 9.
We then turned left to go west on Route 9 where we then drove for the next 16km before turning right onto the local road leading the last kilometer to the Saruo Waterfall.
Again, this turnoff comes up pretty quickly so if you find you’ve crossed a bridge over the Tsukuriyama River, then you’ve missed the turnoff and went too far.
To give you some geographical context, the city of Tottori was 131km (2 hours drive) north of Himeji, 173km (2.5 hours drive) northwest of Kobe, 189km (about 3 hours drive) northwest of Osaka, and 216km (over 3 hours drive) west-northwest of Kyoto.
Find A Place To Stay
360 degree sweep showing the falls and the walking path with downstream scenery while standing near the base
360 degree sweep from further downstream of the falls showing an additional cascade as well as full extent of the height of the falls
Related Trip Reports
Related Top 10 Lists
No Posts Found
Related Itineraries
Trip Planning Resources
Nearby Accommodations
Featured Images and Nearby Attractions
Visitor Comments:
Got something you'd like to share or say to keep the conversation going? Feel free to leave a comment below...No users have replied to the content on this page
Visitor Reviews of this Waterfall:
If you have a waterfall story or write-up that you'd like to share, feel free to click the button below and fill out the form...No users have submitted a write-up/review of this waterfall
Nearest Waterfalls
