"Todoroki Falls" was a shy, phantom waterfall. - A casual Tokushima trip, Kaiyo Town edition -

Everyone! This is sudden, but
when you travel, where do you stay? Hotels, inns, pensions, etc.?
Where do you stay?

For a long time, our family trips have always been at business hotels. About 20-something years ago, you never saw families with children at business hotels.

However, in the Reiwa era,
for some reason, it's the business people who feel out of place at business hotels. How times have changed...

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The reason I started with this topic is that
recently, business hotel prices have skyrocketed, and they are often fully booked, so we've been struggling. In the first place, the reason we at "Nagu-Nagu Tourist" used them so much was because they were cheap! Convenient! Empty! But now... they aren't empty.

You there, suffering from the same problem!
Nagu-Tsu will let you in on a secret.

A guide to choosing hidden gem business hotels

Here we go~ Paff paff~!

Aim for the second-largest city

For example, in Ehime Prefecture, I recommend staying in the second-largest city, Imabari, instead of Matsuyama. Of course, for this Tokushima trip, we also stayed in the second-largest city (Anan City). A hotel of the same class cost about 10,000 yen per night in Tokushima City, but in Anan City, it was only 4,400 yen including breakfast!

Aim for Shinkansen stations

The area in front of minor Shinkansen stations is a good target. This spring, on my Niigata trip, I used a hotel in front of Joetsu-Myoko Station. This was also very cheap even though it was Golden Week. I suppose the gap between business demand and leisure demand is large. They are often empty on holidays.

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The introduction has become long, but today's Nagu-Tsu
is heading to the mountainous area of Kaiyo Town in the southern part of Tokushima Prefecture.

The place we are visiting is here!

Todoroki Ninety-Nine Falls

Since we stayed in Anan City for this trip, we decided to focus on visiting the southern part of Tokushima Prefecture. (Nagu-Tsu starts by securing cheap accommodation first. After that, we decide on the destination. Lol)

We are aiming for Todoroki Falls, a name that sounds like a roaring sound will echo. Tokushima Prefecture is not just about the Naruto whirlpools and the Awa Odori dance.

From Anan City at the top right of the map, we cruise along the coastal National Route 55. Entering Kaiyo Town, we head north on National Route 193 along the Kaifu River. Just as we were thinking it was a smooth, pleasant drive, a narrow road was waiting for us at our destination as expected (lol).

Arrival

After driving about 10 kilometers on a narrow mountain road, we arrived at the parking lot.

There's no one here but us...

What's surprising is,

even on such a narrow road,

buses run here. So, for those who are not confident in their driving, let's make use of public transportation.

Once again,

let me explain the Todoroki 99 Falls!

It is a scenic spot where various waterfalls of all sizes are scattered, centered around "Todoroki Falls," which has been selected as one of the 100 Best Waterfalls in Japan. Collectively, they are called the Todoroki 99 Falls. A walking trail is maintained, and you can go around it in a little under 2 hours (a journey of about 3.5 km).

Also, as the bus stop name mentioned earlier suggests, the core of this area is Todoroki Shrine, which worships Todoroki Falls as its sacred object.

Furthermore, the heroic festival where a portable shrine enters the basin of the sacred object (Todoroki Falls) is famous even within Tokushima Prefecture.

The overall map looks like this.

Worship

Now, let's change into our trekking shoes and head out!

First, I pray for a safe walk.

After walking along the approach for about 5 minutes

a torii gate comes into view

The sound of the waterfall echoes from beyond it.
It takes about 20 minutes from the parking lot to get here.

Passing through the torii gate
I approach the waterfall

But!

I can't see the waterfall.

Like the folds of a curtain, the rocks overlap, hiding the sacred object (the waterfall) itself.

Oh my!

It's a shy waterfall. This is truly a phantom waterfall.

Phantom!

Even if I do an impression of IKKO
the waterfall won't appear...

I try various angles

but, as expected

Oh my

state

While I was doing that, it started to rain.

When I checked the rain cloud radar on my smartphone,
a massive swarm of deep red clouds was approaching intermittently and continuously.

The river (waterfall?) beside the road was also rising,
and water began to overflow onto the walking path.

Hmm, you can't beat nature.

Time to retreat.

So, although I was able to reach Todoroki Falls, I couldn't complete the entire walking path. I'll leave that as homework for next time.

The day has only just begun (it's currently 10:30 AM).
I wonder where I should go this afternoon.

Mountain weather is fickle.

That's it, I'll head toward the coast.

- Next Episode Preview -

So, in the afternoon, I'll be crossing over to an island!

Look forward to the next one!


( To be continued... )