One Miyazaki morning, waking up at a cozy guesthouse \u2013 an actual lodge of log \u2013 we hit the road and started rolling over scenic hills.\u00a0 Our warm morning and lolling start was the perfect lead-in to the magnificent Takachiho gorge, nestled in the interminable green of summertime Miyazaki.<\/p>\n

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The gorge was gone in a hiding place of endless forest fairyland.\u00a0 Nearing a parking area further from the gorge itself, we had left behind the scene of rice paddies and tea fields that also typify inland Miyazaki and were greeted by a torii gate set into a woodland wall of green and bark.\u00a0 It was a rare invitation to a world of true concealment.<\/p>\n

Takachiho gorge’s was a sprawling woodland of towering trees and fellow travelers wandering like mystified children fixated on the first page of a picture book.\u00a0 At Takachiho shrine, where we crossed the torii, a couple of great trees were bound fittingly by Shimenawa Shinto ropes \u2013 another Shinto sign of the sacred.\u00a0\u00a0 This was a shrine where the presence for Japan\u2019s greatest naturalistic divinity tangibly awaited us beyond the cusp.\u00a0 Our feet on well-padded earth and our bodies in the cool beneath a great canopy, we were called to the path that gently led into deepening Miyazaki.<\/p>\n

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The path wound through the forest and vaguely downwards until we caught our first sight of Takachiho gorge.\u00a0 Looking down with our eyebrows raised, jags of rock seemed more like flint splinters.\u00a0 It was a drop.\u00a0 Tracing the narrow river upstream, its origin point remained unseen.\u00a0 However, across a patina bridge ahead was the beginning of a more frequented footpath, sided by an old-styled building.<\/p>\n

Breathless meters away, we stopped over the bridged gorge to admire the sheer drop.\u00a0 Crossing, the canopy opened to let in the glorious sun.\u00a0 Amaterasu\u2019s presence shone through as we started down the stairs.\u00a0 To our right, the shopkeepers sold Miyazaki memorabilia.\u00a0 Nudging our bodily sides were visitors climbing up from below.<\/p>\n

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The other visitors were dotted over the spatial spread that awaited us at the base of the earthen steps.\u00a0 Similar to a Zen garden, bare earth pooled into a wide area. The path narrowed over a footbridge atop Takachiho gorge, but again \u2013 for a couple hundred meters \u2013 was a wide space filled foremost by summer sun. To our left was the still-narrow gorge.\u00a0 We lingered and climbed a large mound overlooking the drop, noticing a simple human complement to Miyazaki mounds of natural design in the form of a bridge held dramatically high over Takachiho.<\/p>\n

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We continued over a footbridge back into greenwood as the path narrowed and woodland wanderers cozied up.\u00a0 Shafts of light glittering through the trees onto the winding way were the beckoning hands of Amaterasu, and before long we were ushered before a dazzling sight.\u00a0 Trees banking to our left, a robust portion of Takachiho gorge filled our eyes.<\/p>\n

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Dotting the now widened pools in the generous depth of the gorge were rowboats with people paddling in circles.\u00a0 The summer light was patchy in their deeper world, replicating the ancient moment when Amaterasu had hid her daylight from the world of Japanese gods.\u00a0 Above them along the top of the sheer wall, our path continued under open sky for a couple hundred meters.\u00a0 Families dawdled as children yelped with excitement, and people took time for photographs worthy of the scene.<\/p>\n

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Where the canopy returned, a man-made pond filled with koi was a nice human refinement to Takachiho.\u00a0 You could grab a handful of food to pepper the water with in the hopes of enticing the large fish.\u00a0 Settled amid the waters was a place selling Japanese curiosities.\u00a0 This was the first of a string of old-styled shacks selling souvenirs, and where the dirt footpath gave way to a narrow paved road winding over the gorge and to a sort of plaza where eateries were clustered.\u00a0 We knew by our insatiable hunger for wonder that we hadn\u2019t explored Takachiho\u2019s natural bounty enough.\u00a0 We continued past the pond area where contented parents watched children fixedly feeding fish, and by the small crowds eyeing Miyazaki delicacies.<\/p>\n

Past the plaza the road rose to a large, uncovered cul-de-sac.\u00a0 At the furthest side was a lone building.\u00a0 Here you pass your coins over for a rowboat rental.\u00a0 Afterwards, a stairway descended into Takachiho gorge.\u00a0 This point was the furthest point we could tread with its sheer price matching the gorge brink at 2000 Yen for 30 minutes on a boat fit for three. We leaned on the guardrail overlooking the grandeur of the gorge below.\u00a0 The sun complemented the view, as if Amaterasu had never been clouded by years beyond history. \u00a0A final gorge outlook glimpsed, after some moments we turned our backs to the sun and returned along our path through the woods.<\/p>\n

Takachiho access:<\/p>\n

From Kumamoto: buses to Nobeoka\u00a0depart at 09:11 and 15:31 from JR Kumamoto Station; 09:22 and 15:42 from the central bus terminal. Arrives at 12:24 and 18:44 in Takachiho. 2370 yen.<\/p>\n

From Miyazaki city: JR Nippo Line to Nobeoka\u00a0(01:03, 2580 yen by express). Connection to the Kumamoto bus\u00a0(departs 07:30 and 15:45). Arrives at Takachiho in one hour (1790 yen). This is the fastest route from Oita. The total cost is 4370 yen and will take around 2 hours and 3 minutes.<\/p>\n

From Fukuoka:\u00a0direct buses from the Nishitetsu Tenjin Bus Center\u00a0connect to Takachiho in 4 hours and 3 minutes (4020yen).<\/p>\n